The Washington Capitals became the eighth team in the NHL's Eastern Conference this season to reach 100 points. It's the first time in NHL history that has ever happened that a single conference had eight teams reach triple digits in points. It's sure to make the playoffs incredibly competitive. In order for the Capitals to make another deep run though, they will likely need their captain, Alex Ovechkin, in the lineup.

Prior to Tuesday morning's skate around, Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette provided an update on Ovechkin's status. As NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti captured, Laviolette's comments were somewhat confusing.

“Alex is day to day, and I think we're going to evaluate it and do the best thing for Alex,” Laviolette said. “And so he'll be a game-time decision, but there'll be nothing that we jump into that we don't need to or if it's not right.” That was the Capitals' coach's response to whether he will play Tuesday night.

That would generally lead people to think that if he is day-to-day and a game-time decision for Tuesday night, that the playoffs (a little over a week away) should be fine.

Yet, when asked about his availability for the postseason, Laviolette did not commit.

“I want to say, ‘I hope so,' but again, I don't know,” Laviolette said. “It depends on how things progress with him, so it's day to day right now. It's day to day, so when you go in and talk to the trainers again, he's been in there all morning and he gets looked at and worked on and we'll see.”

Ovechkin suffered an upper-body injury in Sunday's 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. With how deep and talented the eastern conference is, it goes without saying that Washington's chances without Ovechkin are very remote.