With the season winding down, the Capitals are getting closer and closer to locking up a top three spot in the Eastern Conference (or did they already clinch?). With seven games remaining--none against playoff teams--Washington has a great chance to catch New Jersey (tied with 97 points) and Boston (five points back).
While going 4-0 against Tampa thus far, the Caps should take the Lightning seriously as Ryan Malone is coming to
"It's kind of over," left wing Ryan Malone said. "I mean, there's not really much you can do anymore. If the hit is there, you want to finish your checks on him, but you have to keep your head up with him as well. It's just one of those things. He was celebrating his 50th goal, we understood that. But we still were embarrassed by it. It's our job to stick together."Malone...Now there's a guy who's opinion matters and who always makes the right decisions.
Malone said the best retribution would be to "steal the two points."
Tampa has limped through the month of March, winning just four of 12 games with matchups against Ottawa and Boston looming. Nothing seems to be going right for a Lightning team that has a win percentage of .469 when scoring first. That translates into nine wins when giving up the first goal. That puts them at last and fourth-to-last in the league.
With a win tonight, it would mark the first time since tsweep of Tampa Bay would mark the first time since 2001 that Washington went undefeated against the Lightning (4-0-1). Who says the Caps play down to their competition?
