Washington Capitals Claim Eastern Conference Title, No. 1 Seed in NHL Playoffs

Thanks to the Buffalo Sabres' overtime victory against the Philadelphia Flyers last evening, the Washington Capitals were able to clinch their second straight eastern conference title and No. 1 overall seed for the upcoming Stanley Cup playoffs.

As the No. 1 seed, the Capitals will have home ice advantage straight through the conference finals should they make it that far.

The Philadelphia Flyers completed their late season collapse in fine fashion when they blew a 3-2 third period lead and allowed the Sabres to tie the game and win in overtime. The Flyers have dropped from the No. 1 seed to currently a No. 4 seed as the Pittsburgh Penguins now sit atop the Atlantic Division.

Philadelphia led Washington by 10 points in the Eastern Conference on March 1 but has earned just 18 points since then with a 6-7-6 record over that span. The Capitals have been the hottest team in hockey since the beginning of March, recording 31 points with 15-2-1 record.

Tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers could resemble a Hershey Bears (Washington's minor league affiliate) contest, or Washington could use the game as a tune-up for the first round that begins next week.

Washington's head coach Bruce Boudreau chooses to remain tight-lipped and will not reveal his roster for the game.

Speaking to Katie Carrera of the Washington Post, Boudreau said, “I don’t know. I think it’s a lot of decisions to be made. A lot depends on tonight, so we’ll see how the lineup looks tomorrow.

“There will be a lot of discussions. It will be between the coaches, myself, and George (McPhee), almost like a round table discussion on what’s the best strategy,” Boudreau said.

Regardless of what happened in Buffalo last evening, all signs point to the return of Caps defenseman Mike Green in the season finale.

Green participated fully in the Capitals’ practice Friday morning, and when asked if he would be on the blue line at Florida tomorrow, he responded, “Absolutely.”

Green said he was feeling “great, pretty much 100 percent. Just a matter of getting back in shape here for the game. It will be good to get out there, get that feel back, and have a couple days to practice and get in better shape for games.”

The two-time Norris Trophy nominee has been sidelined since Feb. 25 when Derek Stepan of the New York Rangers elbowed him in the head. The elbow to the head came just a week after Green took a slap shot to the ear in versus the Penguins on Super Bowl Sunday.

When asked by the media about his conditioning Green said he was “about 90 percent” but that the biggest factor is just getting back in a game.

“I think the conditioning is there, it’s getting your feel back for the puck in game situations,” Green said. ”I think a period and it will come back—you never really lose it.”

Washington may have many of the same players from last year’s conference winning team but this year’s conference winning bunch is a much different team in terms of chemistry and style of play. 

The Caps went through numerous scoring droughts and are on pace to score more than 90 fewer goals than last season. They once lost eight games in a row back in December. Last year saw very little in the way of adversity or competition during the regular season.

By the time Washington experienced either, they had been eliminated from the playoffs in seven games by the Montreal Canadiens.

After running away from the league with a franchise record 121 points last season, the Capitals failed miserably in the playoffs. Their 318 goals did them no good in the postseason.

This year the Caps have a chance to finish with 109 points, which will be the second highest total in their history and look like a much better bet to have postseason success.

The Capitals are a better two-way hockey team that is now capable of beating teams in a variety of ways. The Caps have issues but not like last year. Last season the power play was dominant in finishing the season ranked No. 1.

This season the Caps power play has been average at best, but seems to be improving at just the right time. Ranked as low as 24th at one point this season, the Caps have scored on five of their last nine extra-man chances and have subsequently moved up to 16th in the NHL.

Led by a veteran and a rookie this year’s defensive unit has been stellar throughout the entire season.

Rookie John Carlson is one point shy of owning the Caps' all-time rookie record for scoring by a defenseman and Scott Hannan has been lights out down the stretch.

Hannan joined the Caps during their eight game losing streak and finished January minus-8.

Acquired from Colorado on November 30, Hannan is now a plus-4 on the year and has been huge late in games for Washington.

Over the Caps' last 25 road games they are 17-6-2 and have allowed just 51 goals, good for a 2.04 goals against average.

If the Capitals surrender three goals or less tonight, they will set the franchise record for fewest goals allowed and goals against in a single season. Washington has allowed just 190 goals this season with a 2.35 GA. The 1999-00 Caps surrendered 194, with a 2.37 goals against average.

Boudreau has yet to name a starting goalie for the postseason.  

Michael Neuvirth has won a career best five consecutive starts but has not looked stellar in doing so. Semyon Varlamov looked crisp in stopping 31 shots against Florida on Wednesday night.

Will it be the rookie who set a Caps rookie record for mots wins in a season, or the grizzled playoff veteran Varlamov?

Neuvirth led Washington's top AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears in winning back-to-back Calder Cup championships the previous two seasons.

Neuvirth was a very impressive 30-10 with 1.98 goals against and an astounding .927 save percentage in 40 postseason starts in Chocolate town.

Varlamov has just 19 career playoff starts in the NHL and is 10-9 with a 2.49 GA and a .919 save percentage. Varly is 1-2 in Game 7s and is 3-4 in elimination games.

The Caps have a luxury when they take the ice against the Panthers on Saturday that they have not enjoyed very much this season: options without consequences in the standings.

Whatever Boudreau decides, you can bet this year's version of the Eastern Conference champs will be a lot more prepared to start the playoffs than last year’s Presidents' Trophy winners.