Tonight Washington’s favorite ice skating warriors could be in trouble. They’ve just won four straight games. Mike Green is leading all NHL defensemen in goals and Alexander Ovechkin is leading the entire NHL. Nicklas Backstrom just became the first NHL rookie ever to score four assists in each of two straight games. The Caps have climbed up from the league’s basement to the middle of their division, with a short walk to the top. General Manager George McPhee credits the team’s success to new coach Bruce Boudreau, since they’ve been winning ever since he took over.

Boudreau, meanwhile, invited 50 of his closest friends to watch his triumphant return to Toronto tonight, as he faces the team he used to play for in the town where he grew up. So why are they in trouble? Well, any team does well for a while after their coach gets fired. There’s nothing like blood in the water to make everybody pay attention and play each game like their career depends on it. But the Caps have just about figured out their new pecking order, and while many players who didn’t understand Glen Hanlon’s system are thriving under Boudreau, nobody is panicked anymore. The Maple Leafs have just fired their general manager and replaced him with a man famous for trading ten players at once in 1992.

This is the Leafs’ first game back from the shock, so they should play like they don’t want to suddenly move across the country. The Caps are in for the most serious competition of their new era.