Washington Capitals stumble, but may have just dodged the President's Trophy curse

The performance improved over Saturday's humiliating 7-0 loss in Columbus but was still not what a playoff-bound team wants to see just days before the postseason begins.

Despite the back-to-back setbacks, there's a silver lining since that with the loss, the Capitals officially lost the President's Trophy that is awarded to the team with the best regular-season record to the Winnipeg Jets.

It's the first time in franchise history that Winnipeg claims the league's top seed.

However, this development may actually favor the Washington Capitals since as longtime NHL reporter Ted Starkey pointed out thtat winning the President's Trophy hasn't historically been a recipe for playoff success.

The so-called President's Trophy Curse has haunted more than a few elite teams over the years and that could have been the Capitals.

That narrative brings some perspective to Sunday night's loss and with Alex Ovechkin scoring career goal No. 896, Capitals fans still had reason to cheer especially with No. 900 goal now in sight.

While there's plenty for Washington to clean up ahead of Game 1, they may have dodged one historical hurdle in this malediction that is the President trophy.

Now, all focus shifts to getting healthy, staying sharp and making a deeper run in. the playoffs without the weight of being the league's regular-season champ.