My name is Michael Cherry and I am a huge fan of the Washington Capitals. Last year, despite a fantastic regular season, the Capitals were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. This year however, the Capitals looked poised to avenge their defeat and return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since the 1997-1998 season. With the recent promotion of Alexander Ovechkin to team captain, the Red have become all but unstoppable having won 10 of the last 11 outings. In addition to Ovechkin's 33 goals and 30 assists at this point in the year, players such as Semin have begun to play a larger role. Alexander Semin, along with his 23 goals and 28 assists on the year up to this point is just one piece of a puzzle that has the Capitals as the highest scoring team in the league.

On the other side of the blue line, Mike Green continues to be the backbone of the Capitals defense, averaging an astounding 25 plus minutes of ice time each game. To go along with this Canadians D are his 50 points he has tallied so far this season. As of recent, behind Green has been an unwavering Jose Theodore. Despite a rocky start to the season, the groin injury to Semyon Varlamov has left Theo as the number 1 goalie, in front of Hershey Pennsylvania call up, Michael Neuvirth. Having had back-to-back outstanding games against Detroit and Pittsburgh, it will be interesting to see who starts between the pipes when Varly returns.

The Capitals are currently leading the Eastern Conference with 74 points, 5 more than the #2 New Jersey Devils and look to be a shoe-in to successfully defending their back-to-back Southeast Division Title. As of know the Caps' 74 points is 19 more than the trailing Florida Panthers with more than half the season over. With such a lead, it will be interesting to see if coach Bruce Boudreau continues to push the pedal of this high octane offense or eases up in hopes to conserve some energy for the playoffs. With home ice advantage in the playoffs still up for grabs and continuous sell outs at the Verizon Center, I think it is more than likely that this team will continue to amaze.