Predators win Presidents' Trophy with rally against Capitals

WASHINGTON-- The Nashville Predators won the Presidents' Trophy for the best record in the NHL with a 4-3 win against the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

Nashville (52-18-11) clinched the Central Division and Western Conference and will have home-ice advantage for as long as it plays in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Craig Smith scored twice, and Ryan Johansen scored the tiebreaking goal at 14:33 of the third period for the Predators, who set their record with 52 wins. Nashville will play the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference in the first round.
WATCH: [All Predators vs. Capitals highlights]
"It's a pretty good night for us, for sure," Predators defenseman Roman Josi said. "It's such a tough league, and I think it's something we take a lot of pride in. We worked hard all year for this. Obviously, the big goal remains to win a Stanley Cup, but it's definitely something we're proud of."
Alex Ovechkin scored his NHL-leading 47th goal for the Capitals (48-26-7), who have won the Metropolitan Division and will play the first wild card from the Eastern Conference.
Ovechkin needs a hat trick in the regular-season finale against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday to reach 50 goals for the eighth time. He leads Winnipeg Jets forward Patrik Laine by three goals for the Rocket Richard Trophy, which Ovechkin has won six times.
"Right now our focus is not on 50, our focus is on the playoffs," Ovechkin said. "And being in shape. We didn't get hurt. That's the most important thing."
Josi scored a power-play goal for Nashville at 8:19 of the third period to tie it 3-3.

Smith scored a power-play goal at 4:17 of the first period for a 1-0 lead. Ovechkin scored a power-play goal at 4:29 of the second period to tie it 1-1.
Evgeny Kuznetsov put Washington ahead 2-1 with a power-play goal at 6:47 when he banked a pass off the skate of Predators defenseman Ryan Ellis. Smith's rebound goal tied it 2-2 at 14:03.
Kuznetsov made it 3-2 with a backhand from a sharp angle at 1:07 of the third period.
Phillip Grubauer made 25 for Washington, which won the Presidents' Trophy but was eliminated in the second round the previous two seasons.
"We've seen especially here (in Washington) that the trophy doesn't mean that much going forward," Forsberg said. "But I think just the home ice is going to be huge. We love playing in front of our home fans and want to do that as much as we can."

A group of Predators watched the final seconds of the Boston Bruins' 3-2 loss to the Florida Panthers, which assured the best record for Nashville, on a cell phone in the locker room.
It is Nashville's first Presidents' Trophy since joining the NHL in 1998-99.
"It's always just been about home ice and trying to stay in our building, give ourselves the best chance to be successful in the playoffs," Predators coach Peter Laviolette said. "With that, those things happen. You end up winning a division, a conference and first place in the League. It's a long road when you play the 82 games, but I think the guys did an incredible job of staying really focused and fairly consistent with their game and because of it we sit where we sit."

Goal of the game

Johansen's goal at 14:33 of the third period.

Save of the game

Saros' save on Carlson at 8:56 of the second period.

Highlight of the game

Ovechkin's goal at 4:29 of the second period.

They said it

"If there's any significance, I'd love to play them in June. Then, that would be a real exorcism because it would be the two teams I've been the manager for. That would be very meaningful to me." -- Predators general manager David Poile on clinching the Presidents' Trophy in Washington, where he was GM for 15 seasons
"You want to be feeling good about your game going into the playoffs. You don't want to take your foot off the gas, you don't want to play any different. … Hockey is a sport where you always have your last game in the back of your head." -- Capitals forward Tom Wilson

Need to know

Capitals forward Alex Chiasson (illness) left the game in the second period. ... Smith set an NHL career high with 25 goals. He scored 24 in 2013-14. ... Nashville won 51 games in 2006-07.

What's next

Predators: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; FS-TN, FS-O, NHL.TV)
Capitals: Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSWA, MSG+, NHL.TV)