ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals have a familiar foe sneaking up on them in the crowded Stanley Cup Playoff race.
The surging Pittsburgh Penguins have moved to within three points of the Capitals, who hold the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference, making the game against each other at Capital One Arena on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; SN-PIT, MNMT, SNP, SNO, SNE) that much bigger.
“For us, we know the circumstances surrounding tomorrow,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said Wednesday. “It’s our biggest game of the year, right, on home ice, most important time of the year, and now with the runway getting extremely short, our guys understand what’s at stake.”
The Penguins (34-30-11) appeared out of the race at the beginning of the week, trailing the Capitals (36-29-10) by seven points, but trimmed the deficit to three points with wins against the New York Rangers (5-2 on Monday) and New Jersey Devils (6-3 on Tuesday) while the Capitals were losing their third straight, 6-2, to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday.
“I think without a doubt it has an inspirational effect to know that we have a legitimate chance," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Thursday. "We can say all along, ‘Just keep going, keep going. Anything can happen.’ But when it’s tangible and it’s right in front of you, I think that gets the guys excited. So, I give the players a lot of credit. We’ve worked extremely hard to get to where we’re at. We’ve got to focus on the one game in front of us. That’s been our approach. Let’s try to get the game in front of us and see where it takes us.
“The last week or so we’ve put a pretty good stretch together and we’re in the fight here. So, we just want to give ourselves a chance to stay in the fight. So, we’re going to focus on that one game in front of us tonight and see where it goes.”
The Capitals continue to control their playoff destiny with eight regular-season games remaining – one more than the Penguins -- despite the 0-2-1 skid. The Capitals are tied in points with the Detroit Red Wings with 82 but own the tiebreaker since they played one fewer game.
Washington is also one point behind the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the Metropolitan Division with two games in hand but is being pressured by the New York Islanders, who are one point behind after wins against Philadelphia (4-3 in overtime on Monday) and the Chicago Blackhawks (2-1 on Monday), and Pittsburgh.
The Islanders, who have played one more game than the Capitals, play at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday. The Red Wings and Flyers are off until Friday.
The Capitals’ focus will be solely on the Penguins on Thursday, though.
“Obviously, we know what this team coming in is about and the standings are tight right now, so it’s going to be extremely important,” Capitals forward Beck Malenstyn said. “I think as a group we just have a really clear focus on what we need to do.”
There’s always an added intensity when the Capitals and Penguins meet because of the divisional rivalry and the star power of Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. In the 19 seasons since Ovechkin and Crosby entered the NHL in 2005, the Capitals and Penguins have faced each other in the playoffs four times with Pittsburgh winning three times (2008, 2016, 2017) and Washington winning once (2018) before going on to win the Stanley Cup.
This season, each is hungry to return to the playoffs after failing to qualify last season. The Capitals missed last season for the first time since 2014 and the Penguins missed for the first time since 2006.
“The last decade or so it’s just been, you know, it’s going to be a big game no matter what time of year and no matter what’s the standings are,” said Capitals forward Tom Wilson, who will return after serving a six-game suspension for high sticking Toronto Maple Leafs forward Noah Gregor on March 20. “It’s two teams that are always competing to be good and always competing against each other for spots, so it’s no different right now.”
Crosby has fueled the Penguins’ recent push with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) during a six-game point streak. After scoring four goals in his past two games, the 36-year-old center is one away from reaching 40 for the first time since leading the NHL with 44 in 2016-17.
With 84 points (39 goals 45 assists) in 75 games this season, Crosby has already clinched his 19th season of averaging at least one point per game, tying Gretzky for the most in NHL history.
Ovechkin has one assist in his past four games after scoring eight goals in his previous five games. But after scoring eight goals in his first 43 games, the 38-year-old left wing has scored 18 in his past 28 games to increase his season total to 26 and move within reach of his 18th 30-goal season, which would break his tie with Mike Gartner for most in NHL history.
With 848 career goals, Ovechkin is two away from becoming the second player in NHL history to score 850. He is 46 behind Wayne Gretzky (894) for the most in NHL history.
“Yeah, so long. Nineteen seasons is crazy," Penguins center Lars Eller said. "I played against them on other teams and now in between this rivalry on both sides it’s just fun to still be a part of. It always adds to these games, and it’s a big divisional game tonight. Very important points on the line.”
This will be the 69th time will Crosby and Ovechkin will meet in the regular season. Crosby has 90 points (31 goals, 59 assists) and Ovechkin has 66 points (36 goals, 30 assists) in the first 68 games. Pittsburgh was 39-25-4 and Washington was 29-29-10.
The Capitals won the past two games between them -- 4-3 on Jan. 2 and 6-0 on March 7 – with Ovechkin scoring in each. Carbery expects a better effort from the Penguins on Thursday so the Capitals must raise their level as well.
“It’s going to be two desperate hockey teams that, I’m sure the way they’re building it up now with where everybody sits, these are sort of Game 7-type of games,” Carbery said. “Season’s on the line and one, two points either way could determine whether teams are playing past the regular season.”
