It’s easy to look at the Caps’ goal production in recent weeks or longer and assume (perhaps correctly) that they are not good enough offensively to be competitive right now. To wit, the Caps are 30th in the League in goals per game in March (and would be dead last if not for the seven goals they dropped on one of the two teams below them), 27th since the Olympic break, 25th since the start of February, 22nd in calendar year 2026 and so on.
It’s just as easy (and perhaps more dangerous) to look at their goals-against and assume that they are good enough defensively to be competitive right now.