The Capitals are a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma

After Tuesday night's 4-3 overtime victory over the Detroit Red Wings, the Caps are 36-26-9 with 11 games remaining in the regular season. They're two points ahead of Detroit for the final Eastern Conference wild-card spot and only one behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. They have two more games left to play than Philadelphia and one more than Detroit.

They also have a -26 goal differential on the season, which ranks 26th out of 32 NHL teams. They sold off several key players at the trade deadline. The production of their skaters is nothing resembling that of a playoff squad, with no point-per-game contributors and only three players (Dylan Strome, Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson) pacing even half of that.

With the exception of Ovechkin, who has yet again risen from his own ashes in recent weeks, this is the year that the remaining pieces of his supporting cast from the 2018 Stanley Cup team have finally crumbled. Nicklas Backstrom will likely never play in the NHL again. T.J. Oshie has dealt with a myriad of injuries. Evgeny Kuznetsov was traded. Carlson has scored only seven goals all year.

Then there are the younger members of the team, such as Connor McMichael, Aliaksei Protas, Hendrix Lapierre and Rasmus Sandin. There's promise with all of them, but they're still learning the game at the top level and none can be considered stars yet. Meanwhile Tom Wilson, perhaps the only prime-aged member of the squad, is currently serving a six-game suspension for high-sticking.

Suffice to say, this isn't a roster that should occupy a playoff spot. Yet the Capitals are red-hot, winners of three in a row (all without Wilson), six of their last seven and 13 of their last 19 dating back to Feb. 17. As of Mar. 27, they have a 65.5% chance to make the postseason per MoneyPuck.com.

Some of it has been an incredible job done by first-year head coach Spencer Carbery. Some has been the unlikely heroics of goaltender Charlie Lindgren. Some has been the unbreakable machine that is Ovechkin simply refusing to die. Most of the rest can be chalked up to a ridiculous amount of puck luck in close games, the type of luck that's almost never sustainable over the course of a full season.

Yet it has been for the Caps and all D.C. fans can do is sit back and enjoy the ride.