The Capitals’ penalty kill hasn't been beaten over the past five games, and the unit’s play has trended up since the start of January. Any sort of streak makes hockey people superstitious, and a penalty kill can be especially precarious, never perfect for too long. As the Washington Capitals have racked up seven straight wins, their penalty kill has played a significant part, unbeaten in the past 16 times shorthanded over the past five games. The Capitals tried skilled forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and Andre Burakovsky on the penalty kill, but those experiments ultimately failed. And while even discussing it feels like tempting fate, there’s a certain confidence whenever the Capitals’ penalty kill takes the ice, something that couldn’t be said earlier in the season.

Source: Washington Post March 11, 2019 15:45 UTC