Say what you want about where the team was two months ago or how their much-loved Russian captain looked to be mediocre at best (hey I was writing it, I admit). Maybe it’s the summer-like temperatures or the budding of a new season, but clearly new life has been brought to the Capitals because the team is on fire and dare I say it, well positioned for a playoff spot.

Going into tonight’s home game verse the always interesting Carolina Hurricanes, the Capitals have won 5 straight games, Alex Ovechkin just recorded his 26th goal in the team’s win over the Montreal Canadians 3-2, and the Capitals are in third place in the Eastern Division. Raise your hand if you saw this all happening two months ago? Yea, exactly.

April has been good for the Capitals. Already mid-month the Capitals are 5-0, with Ovechkin recording 8 goals and 2 assists. Keep in mind, in March; Ovechkin had 10 goals and 9 assists, so with his current pace he’s well on his way to top March stats by a long shot. And it’s no surprise to anyone, that when Ovechkin is on fire, so his team.

In the last 14 games, Ovechkin has 16 goals and seven assists and is tied for the league scoring title with Tampa Bay Lightning’s Steven Stamkos. The Washington Capitals have gone from 2-8-1 to 20-17-2, are first in the Southeast Division and currently rank back on top for power plays.

Now, you have every sports writer and hockey analyst trying to break down exactly what caused Ovechkin to have the surge he’s displayed or the Capitals to be clicking the way they have. Let’s go back to the beginning of the season and Capitals’ coach Adam Oates “new system”, which involved moving Ovechkin to the right side.

As ESPN.com hockey writer Scott Burnside puts it, “The critics were loud, early returns on the experiment less than stellar.” And in Burnside’s interview with Capital’s center Nicklas Backstrom, the team was clearly confused in the beginning with the shift. “We were wondering what was going on, but we stuck with it. I feel like we’re a better group right now. I think everybody in the locker room believed in what we were doing,” Backstrom told ESPN.com

Gradually, Ovechkin was getting more shooting chances and then the goals came. “He wasn’t just getting one or two chances a night and feeling he had to capitalize every time he got the puck. He was getting five or six,” Oates told ESPN.com.

So credit what you will – the warmer temperatures instilling this hot vibe through the locker room, the budding of a new season outside, or maybe a pending wedding for a particular Russian putting him in an even more optimistic mood? The fact of the matter is that Coach Oates stuck by his “system” and it clearly seems to be paying off, both for the re-emerging Ovechkin and thus the Capitals.

A great writer for the Washington Times, Mike Harris puts Ovechkin’s hot streak at best.

“Alex Ovechkin needs to go buy a lottery ticket. He’d win. He needs to go play in the Masters. He’d win. He needs to find a horse to ride in the Kentucky Derby. He’d win. He needs to go put on a Nats uniform and hit a couple of home runs to help them beat the Braves. Heck, if RG3 doesn’t make it back in time from his knee surgery … you get the idea.”

So maybe everyone should start trusting this Oates guy a bit more, no?