Caps Game Night – vs. Sabres, 4/2/11

What – Game #79

Where – Verizon Center

When – 7 p.m.

TV – CSN HD

Radio – WFED-1500 AM

Hard to believe after the roller-coaster ride the Caps have been on this season. But a win tonight against Buffalo jumps them ahead of Philadelphia for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoff chase. No guarantee that will last, of course. The Flyers have a game Sunday and could jump right back on top.

Washington faces a desperate team. The Sabres are currently the No. 7 seed and have the same amount of standings points as the Rangers, who are No. 8. Carolina is lurking just three back of those teams, however, so any loss here opens the door further for the Hurricanes. Star goalie Ryan Miller is injured and did not make the trip. Johnas Enroth was pretty good on Wednesday with 23 saves in a shutout of the Rangers.

Michal Neuvirth starts in goal for the Caps based on the morning skate. Defenseman Sean Collins cleared re-entry waivers and is up from Hershey to fill in the gap injuries have opened on the blueline. Matt Hendricks is the forward scratched as Bruce Boudreau begins a rotation down the stretch. Jason Chimera was the odd-man out earlier in the week and responded well with a game-winning goal. We’ll see how Eric Fehr responds after he missed the Columbus game.

“I think some guys that are struggling need a day off,” Boudreau said. “And at the same time I think we’ve had a few guys struggle and it’s worked for them. With [Chimera] he hadn’t scored in 25 games or something and we give him a day off. Sometimes you just get to watch from above and good things happen. [Players] don’t want to sit out and you don’t want guys that want to sit out.”

Washington is now only two points up on Boston for the No. 2 seed so their status in the playoff race could go either way. Magic number of points to clinch the division is two with a win tonight. Tampa Bay has already beaten Minnesota and the Lighting now sit at 97 points with four to play.

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