Washington Capitals (50-15-12) at Columbus Blue Jackets (32-33-13), 7 p.m.
Sports Network | April 3, 2010
(Sports Network) - The Washington Capitals may own the best record in the NHL, but it's been some time since they've had success when taking on the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Eastern Conference regular-season champions will attempt to halt a three- game losing streak to the Blue Jackets when Washington makes its lone 2009-10 visit to Nationwide Arena this evening.
Columbus swept the home-and-home set between these teams last season and came away with a 5-4 overtime triumph at the Verizon Center back on November 1. Washington's last win in this series came on February 5, 2008, although the Caps have left with a victory in four of their last five stops in Columbus.
Despite having already secured the top seed for the upcoming Eastern Conference playoffs and closing in on the President's Trophy honoring the team with the most regular-season points, Washington hasn't been playing its best hockey as of late. The Capitals had gone 0-1-2 over a recent three-game stretch before regrouping with Thursday's 2-1 home decision over playoff- hopeful Atlanta.
The Thrashers had held Washington's high-powered offense in check for most of the night, but grinder Matt Bradley was able to snap a 1-1 deadlock by stuffing a backhander through the pads of Atlanta's Ondrej Pavelec midway through the third period.
"[His job] is to prevent other people from scoring, not scoring goals," said Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau of Bradley. "He did it [Thursday] and well, everyone gets rewarded now and again."
Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals and Semyon Varlamov turned aside 19-of-20 shots to help Washington tie a franchise-record with its 50th win of the season.
The Capitals are also closing in on the franchise's first Presidents' Trophy. Washington is six points ahead of San Jose for the NHL's best record and will use a game in hand over the idle Sharks tonight.
Meanwhile, Columbus is close to wrapping up what has been a disappointing 2009-10 campaign. After making their first-ever postseason appearance last year, the Blue Jackets have slumped to a 32-33-13 mark this season and are next-to-last in the Western Conference in points.
The Jackets did close out March with consecutive victories over Chicago and Tampa Bay, but came up a bit short in a 3-2 defeat to the surging Detroit Red Wings Thursday at Joe Louis Arena.
It just seems like everything is going against us right now," said center R.J. Umberger, who had one of the two Columbus goals and has recorded seven points (2 goals, 5 assists) over a seven-game scoring streak. "We fought hard. [The Red Wings] are a good team and they deserved to win [Thursday]."
Andrew Murray also tallied for the Blue Jackets and Steve Mason made 29 saves in a losing cause.
Umberger came up with the game-winning overtime goal in the November matchup against the Capitals, with captain Rick Nash contributing a goal and two assists to the win. Mason posted 32 saves and boasts a 3-0-0 record with a 1.34 goals against average lifetime versus Washington, having shut the Caps out twice last season.
Reigning Hart Trophy recipient Alex Ovechkin was forced to exit that November loss to the Blue Jackets in the second period due to injury. The superstar sniper ranks second in the NHL with 46 goals and 102 points this season.
