Senators still are able to provide a challenge
Earlier this month the Capitals played a stretch of five games out of six against teams that had already fallen out of Stanley Cup playoff contention.
It was no coincidence that those games were part of a nine-game winning streak that put Washington in control of the Southeast Division title race. But other than a 5-0 shutout of Edmonton on March 8, the Caps had to fight for those victories over the New York Islanders (twice), St. Louis Blues and Florida Panthers. Those four wins were all by a single goal.
“When a team is in the playoffs or fighting for position, those are big games for them,” Washington forward Matt Bradley said. “But teams out of the playoffs, there’s a lot of guys on those teams trying to make an impression for the next year. They have some [players] called up from the minors that want to show they’re ready for the step up. You get some really hungry guys on those teams that want to prove something, and they’ll play right to the very last game.”
The Caps will see just such a team Friday night when they play at the Ottawa Senators, a team that shifted into rebuilding mode before the NHL trade deadline. Washington has won all three meetings this season, but two of those were one-goal games, including an overtime win at Verizon Center on Oct. 11. But since Feb. 12 Ottawa is 10-7-1 with victories over playoff teams Philadelphia and Tampa Bay (twice).
| Caps notes |
| » Bruce Boudreau is expected to start Michal Neuvirth in goal Friday against the Senators and Semyon Varlamov on Saturday against the Canadiens, according to a team source. |
| » Thanks to a knee injury, Varlamov hasn’t played in a game since a Feb. 20 victory over Buffalo. The 22-year-old has appeared in just 24 of Washington’s 74 games this season. |
| » Injured forwards Alex Ovechkin and Jason Arnott — both out with undisclosed ailments — skated on their own before Thursday’s practice, but neither is expected back until late next week at the earliest. |
“I’ve come to the feeling that there are just no weak teams with the salary cap,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. “When you think of 16 teams making [the postseason], there’s 14 teams that aren’t going to make it that could give anybody a run on any night. So there’s no chance that we’ll take Ottawa lightly.”
It is the fifth game of six away from Verizon Center for the Caps (43-21-10, 96 points), who clinched a playoff spot Tuesday. They face Montreal in the second of back-to-back games on Saturday night. None of Washington’s injured players, including defenseman Mike Green, made the trip to Ottawa. Boudreau says Green (head injury) needs clearance from trainer Greg Smith and three good practices before he’ll even think about getting his star defenseman back in a game.
“In a perfect world we’d like to get [Green] back for the last couple of games,” Boudreau said. “I think this week will indicate that. We’ll know by Monday whether we’ll be able to or not.”
