Game #74
Caps (49-14-10, 108 points) at Carolina Hurricanes (30-34-9, 69 points)
Day by day the regular season winds closer to an end. Think at this point everybody’s ready for it. The Caps, coming off the 4-3 shootout win over Pittsburgh at home, are in Raleigh tonight to face the Carolina Hurricanes.
This closes out the season series with another Southeast Division foe. The Caps have just two games remaining against the Atlanta Thrashers. They won’t see the Florida Panthers or Tampa Bay Lightning again until next season – barring a miracle playoff run from those fading teams. Washington is 17-4 against the Southeast Division this season.
The Caps can clinch the Eastern Conference No. 1 seed with a win and a loss by the New Jersey Devils (43-25-4, 90 points). They can also match the franchise record for wins (50) and they can set the team record for points even with an overtime or shootout loss. Another road win would give Washington 23 and break yet another franchise record. I’ve lost count how many records have fallen to this group.
Bruce Boudreau talked Wednesday about maybe testing veteran goalie Jose Theodore in back-to-back games. But he’s decided against that, using rookie Semyon Varlamov instead. This will be his fifth start since the Olympic break, including a loss last Thursday to the Hurricanes in overtime. Boudreau made the point at the morning skate on Thursday that Varlamov started this season in the same rut he’s in now – playing well for a period or two and having brief lapses that prove costly. He played himself out of it then. Does Varlamov have enough time to do so again before the playoffs start? He has allowed 14 goals in these last four starts.
Probably a prudent move anyway to rest Theodore. He did face 42 shots against the Penguins and rest is so precious heading into the postseason. So Boudreau is giving defensemen Shaone Morrisonn and Jeff Schultz the day off, too, according to the Post’s Tarik El-Bashir. Morrisonn led all players with nine hits against the Penguins and has played his best hockey of the season the past few weeks.
