Caps Close Out Campaign vs. Jersey
Caps finish up their 2017-18 regular season slate with a Saturday night date with the Devils in the District
Washington winds up the 2017-18 regular season on Saturday night when it hosts the New Jersey Devils at Capital One Arena. As fate has it, the Devils are - along with Columbus and Philadelphia - one of three teams that are still possible first-round playoff opponents for the Capitals, depending upon the outcome of other games around the NHL on Saturday.
Winners of 11 of their last 14 games, the Caps are pleased with the way they've been playing heading into the postseason. Saturday night's game is meaningless to them in terms of results, and their main focus will be on playing the right way in the season finale against the Devils.
Saturday's game with the Devils is the third of a trio of meaningless games late in the season for Washington. The Caps clinched the Metropolitan Division title on Sunday night in Pittsburgh, their 79thgame of the season. With nothing to play for a night later in St. Louis, the Caps handed the Blues - a team desperate for points in its battle for the final remaining playoff berth in the Western Conference - a 4-2 setback.
The Caps then came home and dropped a 4-3 decision to the Nashville Predators on Thursday night at Capital One Arena. Now, they'll close out the '17-18 regular season against a Metro Division foe and possible postseason opponent in the Devils.
"These are pretty solid teams that we are playing," says Caps right wing Tom Wilson. "You want to be feeling good about your game going into the playoffs, so you don't want to take your foot off the gas, you don't really want to play any different, you want to be feeling good about your four-line game and have a good team game going into the playoffs.
"Hockey is a sport where you have your last game kind of in the back of your head, so you want to have a good one. That being said, once the playoffs start you throw all of that away. I think it's important to keep growing our game; you say that all year. There is a game left here. We'll take some stuff from [Thursday's loss to the Preds], we'll take some stuff from next game, and there is lots of stuff that could potentially help us against whoever we play."
The Caps may not know who they'll play as of yet, but they know they'll be starting the playoffs here in the District. They will likely host Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on either Wednesday or Thursday.
Not much was expected of New Jersey coming into the 2017-18 season. Clearly a rebuilding team, the Devils got off to a torrid start and were in the postseason hunt for most of the season. New Jersey finally and officially punched its postseason ticket in Game 81 on Thursday night, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs by a 2-1 count in front of the home crowd at Prudential Center to earn its first playoff berth since 2012 when it advanced all the way to the Cup final before bowing at the hands of the Los Angeles Kings.
A couple of strong trades helped accelerate the Devils' turnaround. Two summers ago, they acquired left wing Taylor Hall from Edmonton in a straight up deal for defenseman Adam Larsson. Hall is now a strong MVP candidate who is finally poised to appear in his first Stanley Cup playoff games this spring at the age of 26 and after eight seasons and 529 regular season games in the league.
Early this season, Devils general manager Ray Shero consummated a swap with Anaheim. Once Travis Zajac returned from injured reserve in November, the Devils had enough surplus at the center ice position to move Adam Henrique to the Anaheim Ducks, who were missing both Ryan Getzlaf and Ryan Kesler at the time. The Ducks had a bit of excess on the blueline, so the two teams agreed on a deal that would send defenseman Sami Vatanen and a draft pick to the Devils for Henrique, a draft pick and forward Joseph Blandisi.
Vatanen, also 26, has thrived with New Jersey. He has averaged 22:45 a night in ice time to lead all Devils skaters, and he has totaled 28 points (three goals, 25 assists) in just 57 games since the deal was made.
New Jersey's quest for a playoff berth was also aided by goaltender Keith Kincaid, who took the reins when starter Cory Schneider was sidelined with a groin injury in late January. Not only that, Kincaid carried the mail when Schneider was ineffective upon his return from injured reserve.
In four starts since the All-Star Game, Schneider is 0-4-0 with a 3.82 GAA and an .862 save pct. Over the same span, Kincaid is 19-6-1 with a shutout, a 2.53 GAA and a .922 save pct. in 27 appearances (26 starts). The 28-year-old Kincaid entered the season with 23 career NHL wins accumulated over four seasons; he has 26 victories in 2017-18.
