Washington Capitals: Match Ratings for February 2019

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 26: Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden watches from the bench behind Andre Burakovsky (65), Nicklas Backstrom (19), T.J. Oshie (77), Travis Boyd (72), and Nic Dowd (26) during the Ottawa Senators vs. Washington Capitals NHL game February 26, 2019 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 26: Washington Capitals head coach Todd Reirden watches from the bench behind Andre Burakovsky (65), Nicklas Backstrom (19), T.J. Oshie (77), Travis Boyd (72), and Nic Dowd (26) during the Ottawa Senators vs. Washington Capitals NHL game February 26, 2019 at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C.. (Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
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Photo by Randy Litzinger/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

After a dreadful January, the Washington Capitals turned things around last month as the stretch run to the playoffs began.

When we were last examining the play of the Washington Capitals, they had just completed an abysmal seven-game losing stretch and were hoping to improve following the All-Star Break. Of course, it would have been hard to be much worse, but February was indeed a tremendous month for the Caps, as they went 9-4-3, a marked improvement over their 3-6-3 January. Along the way, they went to California, made some trades, and emerged ready to defend their title.

So which games in February were the most important for Washington? Which ones should be remembered at the end of the season as key turning points or indicators of the team’s performance? Or, which games were so fun that they can be rewatched time and time again?

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As I have mentioned in previous iterations, that is the purpose of these articles. Perhaps the patterns that are obvious here will still be relevant come playoff time. Or maybe one of these games is just so fun that it must be rewatched. Hopefully, this article helps with that decision.

If you have followed this series of articles this year, you would notice that they had normally been done on a weekly basis. Starting with December, the format has been changed into doing a monthly wrap with less detailed write-ups for each game.

Instead, one or two games every week that I believe are very important will be spotlighted and analyzed. The other games will be awarded performance and entertainment ratings, but will not be discussed. If you disagree with any of the scores I give, let me know in the comments!

While I would like to branch out the scope to more teams, I am unfortunately only able to watch Washington Capitals games with any consistency, so these articles will only look at those games. Without further ado, let us look back at February for Washington!