Caps Host Pens in Saturday Night Showdown

May 1 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at Capital One Arena
Time: 7 p.m.
TV: NBCSW
Radio:Capitals Radio 24/7, 99.1 FM
Pittsburgh Penguins 33-15-3
Washington Capitals 32-13-5

Saturday night marks the eighth and final regular season meeting of the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, who'll be going head-to-head for the second time in three nights. Pittsburgh won the opener of the two-game set in the District on Thursday night, claiming a 5-4 overtime victory on Jake Guentzel's goal at 2:11 of the extra session.
Both the Caps and Pens earned playoff berths with the outcome of Thursday's game; the Caps doing so for the seventh straight season and for the 13th time in the last 14 years. Pittsburgh extended its postseason streak to 15 straight seasons, the longest active streak in the NHL.
Although both teams will be among the 16 Stanley Cup playoff entrants vying for the coveted chalice, there is still the matter of the East Division title to be settled as the final days of the season unfold. The Caps and Pens currently sit atop the divisional standings with 69 points each, but Washington has six games remaining to just five for Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh has won five of the seven games in the season's series to date, but the Caps have earned at least a point in six of the seven games. While the Pens (5-2-0) have pulled 10 points from the seven games against Washington, the Caps (2-1-4) have scraped together eight, and could square the season's series and claim sole possession of the top spot in the division with a regulation win in Saturday's finale.
Four of the seven games between the Caps and the Pens have been all even after 40 minutes of play, and those are the four games that have gone to overtime.
"They've been tight games," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "[Thursday] night the difference was that we went down on an odd-man rush and didn't score, and they countered on an odd-man rush and scored. That was the difference in the game. It's tight. Every game has been tight, and I don't expect anything different [Saturday].
"There are definitely things that I think we could have done to clean it up. I thought that we did generate chances, I thought we contained them pretty well. But they were also able to score five goals, so there is definitely room for improvement. But the games are so tight that it comes down to maybe one thing that you could have done better, or a couple of things that you could have done better. And so we'll work to try to make that happen."

Saturday's game against the Pens concludes a three-game homestand and also finishes a six-game stretch of games against the three teams the Caps are likely to see in the first round of the playoffs later in May. Washington is 3-1-1 in the five games of that stretch to date, with all three victories coming over the New York Islanders. Saturday's game is also the fifth straight game the Caps have played with the lead in the East Division at stake.
"It's definitely good for ramping up the intensity leading into playoffs, playing every game like this having something on the line," says Caps defenseman Nick Jensen. "You know what's expected in our division obviously with how good they are. It feels like every night we're coming in here and we're fighting for that number one spot. We're always coming in here the next day, looking at the standings and seeing teams shift their position from where they were the previous game.
"That just shows how tight it is in this division and, but it's a double-edged sword in some sorts it's going to be. It's good leading up to the playoffs, but that also means we're going to have to go through these teams in the playoffs, and it's going to be a really tough, tough challenge for us."
Pittsburgh's Thursday night win was its fourth in the last five games, and the Pens have also won nine of their last 13 road games (9-4-0). The Pens own one of the best home records in the League at 20-4-2, so securing home ice for at least the first two rounds postseason is certainly an appealing possibility for them.
"Obviously we're proud of the group, that we've been able to solidify a playoff spot," says Pens coach Mike Sullivan. "This is a hard league. This is a hard division we're playing in. There are going to be good teams that don't make the playoffs; there is every year."
The East Division is the only one of the four divisions that boasts five teams with a positive goal differential, and two of the other divisions - the West and the North - only have three such teams. The New York Rangers are currently in fifth place in the East, and the Blueshirts would be in a playoff position in every one of the other divisions in the League.