Game #71
Caps (47-14-9, 103 points) at Carolina Hurricanes (28-33-8, 64 points)
With wins in its first two games of this week-long road trip, Washington sees the Hurricanes tonight. It’s the middle of three meetings between the Southeast Division rivals in 15 days. They’ll be right back in Raleigh next Thursday, too. Caps have won three of the four games this season – two of those in overtime. Tomas Fleischmann had the game-winner on March 10 at Verizon Center.
Semyon Varlamov is back in goal for the first time since last Friday. Jose Theodore had started the previous two games. Alex Ovechkin is out for one more game thanks to his suspension. Boyd Gordon was sent home from the trip with a bad back so either Scott Walker – the former Hurricane – or Quintin Laing will start at left wing on the fourth line.
With a win, the Caps would tie the franchise record for road victories (23). That mark was first set in 1983-84. Forward Brooks Laich scored twice in Tuesday’s 7-3 win at Florida. He has 23 points in his last 22 games. Mike Green has 70 points. He is one of 13 defensemen in NHL history to post back-to-back 70-point seasons. Only six others did it before their 25th birthday – and every one of them is in the NHL Hall-of-Fame. Leads all NHL defensemen is goals (17), assists (53) and points (70). Only teammate Jeff Schultz has a better +/- rating among defensemen than Green’s +31.
Caps are on pace to break the franchise power-play record for a season. Right now they’re at 26.2 percent and have hit on 9 of their last 24 chances. Washington has never finished first overall in the NHL in power-play percentage. Its magic number to clinch home-ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs is 11 points. Any combination of points for the Caps and lost points by either Pittsburgh or New Jersey inches them closer to that goal. Really, what else is left to accomplish other than Ovechkin holding off the competition for the goals, points race? He guns for his third Hart Trophy beginning Saturday in Tampa Bay.
Washington has also opened up a seven-point lead over the San Jose Sharks for home-ice throughout the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Sharks, the top seed in the Western Conference, do have an extra game left to play – 13 in all. They are 43-16-10 with 96 points. Thanks in part to last Sunday’s win over Chicago (44-19-6, 94 points) the Caps are up nine on the Blackhawks.
