Caps Game Night – at Lightning, 2/4/11

Caps (27-15-10, 64 points) at Lightning (32-15-5, 69 points)

What » Game #53

Where » St. Pete Times Forum

When » 7:30 p.m.

TV » CSN+ HD

Radio » WFED-1500 AM

The Caps with a chance to either creep closer to first place in the Southeast Division or fall seven points behind Tampa Bay with just 29 games left after tonight. It’s the start of a big weekend for Washington, which hosts the Penguins on Super Bowl Sunday. Check out our preview of tonight’s game from the print edition.

Both the Post’s Katie Carrera and WashCaps.com’s Mike Vogel report from Tampa Bay that forward Alex Semin did not make the trip. He is still recovering from a groin injury and clearly doesn’t feel comfortable yet testing himself at game speed. Semin, who signed a one-year contract extension last week, has participated in every practice since last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Semyon Varlamov was first off the ice, according to Vogel and Carrera, and will likely start in goal tonight. He has allowed just 17 goals in his last 10 games with a 1.74 goals-against average and .946 save percentage. The Caps are 2-0-1 against the Lightning this season. Varlamov has started three of those games and stopped 89 of 93 shots on goal. He posted a shutout in a 6-0 win on Nov. 26.

Staying away from overtime would be a pretty good idea at this point. The Caps have lost eight in a row that have gone past regulation and 10 of 11 overall. Five of those losses were via shootout. No rhyme or reason for it. Washington forward Nicklas Backstrom says the team practices their moves at the end of every warm up and does it sometimes during practice, too.

Something else that would help? How about drawing some penalties. Last year the Caps averaged 3.82 power plays per game. That has dropped to 3.42 chances in 2010-11, ranked 23rd in the NHL. That number is down to just 2.46 per game since the Winter Classic. The Caps have generated more than three power plays in a game just once since New Year’s Day. Maybe for one or two nights you can blame the officials. But 13 games? Time to look in the mirror.  

“Last year we had almost like 3 1/2 [chances] every game and I felt like it was even more,” Backstrom said. “Some games we had 5-on-3s every game and five or six penalties. It’s been a while. It’s a combination, I think. If we had more power plays that’s good. But we need to score on one out of every five we do have and that’s good.”

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