Capitals Battling for Last Wildcard Spot in Eastern Conference
On Monday, the Washington Capitals host the Pittsburgh Penguins in an NHL Eastern Conference showdown. The Penguins are second in the Eastern Conference trailing just the Boston Bruins. Pittsburgh is 42-17-4 and has 88 points. The Penguins have a game in hand on the Bruins.
Washington sits on the outside looking in. The Capitals are in tenth place in the conference at 30-25-10 and have 70 points. Washington trails 8th place Columbus by one point.
Pittsburgh is 5-3-2 and Washington 6-3-1 over their last 10 games played. This season the two teams have played two of the four games, they will face one another. Pittsburgh has defeated Washington in both games with the most recent being on January 15 when the Penguins won 4-3.
The Penguins are in a dogfight with the Boston Bruins for first place in the conference and are currently five points behind league leaders the Anaheim Ducks in the President’s Trophy race.
Over the last twenty games of the season, it is all about playoff positioning and seeding for Pittsburgh. For Washington however, they must fight just to make the postseason.
Washington rallied on Saturday to beat the Phoenix Coyotes and snap a losing streak of three games. Washington scored three of their four goals during a stretch of five minutes to remain in 10th in the conference, just a point from the final spot.
Pittsburgh defeated Anaheim on Friday 3-2. The Penguins will play both tonight and Tuesday against Washington and then another back-to-back matchup next weekend versus the Philadelphia Flyers.
Evgeny Kuznetsov, one of the top prospects for the last few years who agreed to a contract with the Capitals on Saturday took part on Sunday in a skate around and could play on Monday. If he feels ready after a skate on Monday morning, he will play.
Evgeni Malkin the center for the Penguins has four points over his last three games. Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh high scorer has one goal and 5 assists over his past five games.
Rookie Olli Maatta the Penguins defenseman has 3 goals and 1 assist in his last five games.
Alex Ovechkin the Washington Capitals wing leads the league in goals with 44 and has 3 goals and 1 assist in his past five games. Nicklas Backstrom the Capitals center has recorded four assists over his last five games and has scored points in six of his past eight games overall.
Robert Bortuzzo and Brian Gibbons are day to day for Pittsburgh. Bea Bennett, Chris Conner, Pascal Dupuis, Tomas Vokoun, Kris Letang and Paul Maring are all out on injured reserve.
For Washington, Mikhail Grabovski will start back to skating during the week. John Erskine missed Saturday’s game, but could play tonight. Aaron Volpatti is out on injured reserve.
The Penguins want to finish first in the conference to hold home ice advantage throughout the conference playoffs. If they win tonight, with Boston idle, the Penguins can return to first place in the division by one point over the Bruins.
Pick: Pittsburgh 3-1
