Washington finds itself battling in the standings
They lived a charmed life for two years. While most other NHL teams scratched and clawed for every single standings point, the Caps spent the past two springs holding on to excessive Southeast Division leads, adding pieces at the trade deadline and plotting their favored postseason matchups.
Those days are over — at least for this season. Washington coach Bruce Boudreau has admitted as much. The defense is improved, the goaltending is better and the penalty kill is among the NHL’s best. But this also isn’t anywhere close to the offensive juggernaut fans watched in recent years. To expect that scoring prowess to return — even with forward Alex Semin (groin) and Eric Fehr (upper-body injury) coming back from injury soon — may not be realistic.
So the Caps (27-15-10, 64 points) join all normal NHL teams with a pressure-packed final 30 games en route to the Stanley Cup playoffs. That stretch begins Friday night against division-leading Tampa Bay (32-15-5, 69 points) in a game forward Matt Bradley called the biggest of the season.
“I think it’s pretty important. They’ve got a five-point lead right now,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. “And now they’ve got the next nine games at home. So it’s up there.”
| Caps notes |
| » Star left wing Alex Ovechkin and goalie Semyon Varlamov were given the day off from practice Wednesday morning. |
| » Washington coach Bruce Boudreau called Varlamov’s absence “a maintenance day.” Ovechkin, meanwhile, had been promised Wednesday off after participating in the All-Star Game over the weekend. |
| » The Caps have killed 100 of 113 penalties taken since Nov. 24. That is success a rate of 88.5 percent. Overall, Washington’s penalty kill ranks second in the NHL at 86.4 percent. |
The Lightning, already the NHL’s hottest team with six wins in a row, don’t play a road game again until Feb. 27. They have outscored their opponents, including the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Flyers, 13-1 in the first three games of a 12-game homestand. And they can push their division lead to seven points with a victory. But no matter what happens Friday night, Washington hopes the game at least finishes in regulation. The Caps have lost 10 of 11 in overtime or the shootout after starting the season 5-0 in those games.
“That’s the thing, too. This year we’ve struggled, but last year we had a great record in overtime,” said Caps forward Nicklas Backstrom, still shaking his head after hitting the post in his shootout attempt Tuesday against the Canadiens. “I guess that’s what happens. But you still have to work on it. If something’s not working we have to do it better.”
Boudreau was “optimistic” Semin would play Friday. The 18-goal scorer has missed the last 10 games with a groin injury and hasn’t registered a goal since Nov. 28 against Carolina. Semin has participated fully in the last three practices.
