The Washington Capitals had a decent preseason this year, but it could have been better. They won three, lost three, and lost a fourth in overtime. Due to the NHL's slightly wacky point system losing in overtime is worth a single point in the standings, so overtime losses are tracked separately from losses in regulation time. Is this a good thing? I do not know. Personally I would have a point system where a loss is worth zero points, regardless of how the loss occurred. This would encourage teams to play for a win, or at least a tie. Under the present system there is less incentive for a team to play hard in overtime because the team is guaranteed at least one point regardless of what happens. However, I do not feel so strongly about it that I am going to let it ruin my enjoyment of overtime hockey.
The Caps' record in their 2007 preseason games is:
| GP | W | L | OT | GF | GA | PTs | Pct |
| 7 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 21 | 21 | 7 | 0.500 |
0.500 hockey is not a bad thing in the preseason. The object of these games is not to win points as much as it is to see how different players perform, and to experiment with different lines. From that point of view the Caps did not do too badly. Their games were:
- Sep 30: Ott 2 at Was 1 Loss
- Sep 28: Phi 5 at Was 7 Win
- Sep 26: Was 1 at Phi 2 Loss
- Sep 25: Car 2 at Was 3 Win
- Sep 22: Was 2 at TB 1 Win
- Sep 20: Was 4 at Ott 5 Loss
- Sep 16: Was 3 at Car 4 OT Loss
Bring on the regular season!
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