It’s the penultimate game of the Washington Capitals season.
The Washington Capitals are back at the comforts of Capital One Arena to close out the 2018-19 regular season with two home games. First up on the docket is a Thursday night matchup with the playoff-desperate Montreal Canadiens. Based on the outcome of tonight, Saturday night’s season finale could be huge. The Capitals will close out against former head coach Barry Trotz and the second place New York Islanders. The Capitals sit at first place in the Metropolitan Division with a 47-25-8 record with 102 points, a three-point lead over the Islanders who will see the Florida Panthers tonight.
But the Capitals have a chance to make sure the Metropolitan Division isn’t decided on Saturday. That can be decided as early as tonight if the Capitals can get a win in any fashion. Doing so would give them their fourth consecutive Metro Division title. Obviously home ice advantage means nothing in the playoffs, last year’s Cup winning team was more successful on the road. But locking up the top spot in the always competitive Metropolitan Division is huge.
Thursday’s contest isn’t necessarily trap game worthy like it was in Monday’s Capitals loss to the Florida Panthers but that doesn’t make it easier. The Canadiens are fighting for their playoff lives. A loss in regulation combined with a Columbus Blue Jackets win against the New York Rangers Friday night will eliminate them from playoff contention. The Canadiens (43-29-8) and Blue Jackets have 94 points each but Columbus owns the tiebreaker and occupies the second and final wild card spot.
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The Canadiens come into Thursday’s game winners of two straight, picking up a 3-1 win Saturday over the Winnipeg Jets as well as a 4-2 win Monday night over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Capitals also got a big win over the Lightning but they followed that up with a dud Monday night in a 5-3 loss to the Panthers. Give the Capitals credit though for coming back late in the third period. With a couple of days rest and a rabid home crowd excited to see their team again, expect way more energy throughout Thursday night’s game from the Capitals.
Washington will deal with some injury adversity to their defense. We already knew Michal Kempny was going to be out for a significant amount of time, but on Tuesday the Capitals announced that Kempny underwent successful surgery on his torn left hamstring and will miss four-to-six months. That means Kempny will be out for the entire postseason.
Caps expected lineup:
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 4, 2019
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Hagelin-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Dowd-Boyd
Carlson-Jensen
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos
The defensive adjustments since Kempny’s injury has had Christian Djoos back into the lineup. Djoos and Nick Jensen have each got reps on the top pairing next to John Carlson. It’ll be Jensen on the top pair tonight.
Puck drop is at 7 p.m. on NBC Sports Washington. Following the game, the playoff picture will begin to crystallize even more.
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