Time CAPSule - Caps vs. Tampa Bay, April 3, 2008

Earlier this season, we posted Alex Ovechkin](https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/early-times-of-the-great-eight/c-311761890) and another Nicklas Backstrom](https://www.nhl.com/capitals/news/backstrom-takes-center-stage/c-313921356). In the process of crafting those stories and talking to the subjects themselves and many others, we were reminded of how exciting and thrilling the 2007-08 NHL season was in these parts.
It stands as Ovechkin's career year, it was Backstrom's rookie year, Bruce Boudreau took over behind the Washington bench on Thanksgiving Day, and the Caps made the playoffs for the first time in five years, winning 15 of 19, 11 of 12 and seven straight at season's end to come back from a dismal 6-14-1 start to win the Southeast Division title.
That season and that run into the playoffs augured in the "Rock The Red" era of hockey in DC, the beginning of 11 playoff appearances in a span of a dozen seasons. At this time a dozen years ago, the Caps were in the midst of that wild run. With the NHL's 2019-20 season "paused" for the foreseeable future, we're going to spend the next month looking back at the day-to-day of that remarkable late-season run, revisiting some of our coverage at the time with some fresh hindsight mixed in. On the off days between games, we will revisit some events from earlier in that landmark season. Enjoy!

Thursday, April 3, 2008
The Caps' three-game season-ending homestand continued on this night 12 years ago, as the Tampa Bay Lightning came into D.C. looking to spoil Washington's remarkable late-season surge. The Caps came into this game with their first five-game winning streak in more than seven years, and with 13 wins in their previous 17 games. And yet, with two games remaining in the season, they were still on the outside of the playoff picture.
\Pittsburgh 102
\Montreal 100
New Jersey 97
NY Rangers 93
\Carolina 92
Ottawa 92
Boston 92
Philadelphia 91
----------------
Washington 90
Buffalo 88
The game against the Lightning is Washington's game in hand on Carolina; the Caps must win to keep pace with the Canes, who beat the Bolts at home after falling to the Capitals in D.C. on Tuesday.
Thursday's game against Tampa Bay represented yet another in a seemingly endless sequence of must-win games for the Capitals. In Tuesday's win over Carolina, the Caps lost blueliner Shaone Morrisonn to an upper body injury, so Steve Eminger is slated to step into the lineup in his absence.
Here is our game-day preview from that contest, as well as a blog post from the morning of the game outlining the Caps' playoff possibilities and Eminger's return to the lineup.
\\\\\*
April 3 vs. Tampa Bay Lightning at Verizon Center
Time:7:30 pm
TV:Comcast SportsNet
Radio: 3WT 1500AM, 820 AM and 107.7 FM
Pre-Game: Pre-Cap podcast at 3 p.m. on www.washingtoncaps.com
Tampa Bay Lightning (31-39-9)
Washington Capitals (41-31-8)
Two nights after a convincing 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in their biggest game of the season, the Caps host the Tampa Lightning in what is once again Washington's biggest game of the season. They're all big for the Caps with just two to go, and Washington still sitting on the outside of the NHL's playoff chase.
"I'm just trying to bring them down to earth a little bit," says Caps coach Bruce Boudreau after the club's Wednesday practice in preparation for the Tampa Bay tilt. "Nothing is over, nothing is successful yet until maybe Sunday afternoon at 6 o'clock when we know if we are in or whether we are out [of the playoffs]."
Washington has won five straight for the first time in more than seven years; it now seeks its first six-game winning streak since Jan. 8-19, 2001. It has won nine of its last 10, and 13 of its last 17. But the reality of the situation is that the Caps will likely need to stretch those streaks to seven straight wins, 11 of 12 and 15 of 19 to earn their first Stanley Cup playoff berth in five years.
A week ago tonight, the Caps and Bolts hooked up in Tampa with Washington prevailing 4-3 on Tomas Fleischmann's overtime goal. The Caps have taken each of their last four meetings with the Lightning, each by a single goal. Washington seeks its first five-game winning streak over the Bolts since it won five straight from Nov. 9, 1999-Mar. 19, 2000.
Getting two points against Tampa Bay tonight and two more against Florida on Saturday would put the Caps in good stead, but they'll still need some outside help from somewhere to earn a playoff berth.
The Capitals have won four straight games at Verizon Center, outscoring the opposition by a combined total of 12-5 in the process.
Defense has been a strong point for Washington over the last two months. The Caps have allowed just 2.25 goals per game over their last 28 contests, and have recorded a 17-8-3 record during that stretch. If maintained over the full course of the 2007-08 season, the 2.25 goals against per game would rank fourth in the league. For the entire '07-08 season, the Caps are now 18th in the league with an average of 2.81 goals allowed per game.
Washington's blueline absorbed a blow when stalwart defenseman Shaone Morrisonn - a plus-6 over his last five games - left the ice in the first period of the Carolina game. He will miss Thursday's game with the Lightning, and may be out longer than that.
With Morrisonn (20:16 per game) and Brian Pothier (18:42) both out of the lineup, Washington is without its third and fourth defensemen, in terms of average ice time per game. The top twosome of Mike Green (23:32) and Tom Poti (23:25) will probably step up to assume some of Morrisonn's ice time workload, but Jeff Schultz (18:11), Milan Jurcina (16:44) and John Erskine (15:44) will also be expected to step up and take on a greater ice time burden, too.
Green and Morrisonn have been blueline partners for most of the season.
"I hope it's not as difficult as it usually [is]," says Green of Morrisonn's absence from the lineup. "Anytime you're playing with a new guy it's tough to adjust. With our system, as long as we play our system defensively, we should be able to read off each other pretty easy.
"Losing Mo is not something I wanted because of our connection, but we've got to move on now and make sure we're doing the job."
Boudreau is stoic about the loss of Morrisonn.
"If you're hurt, you're not playing," he says. "Somebody else has got to come in and do what you do. It's a great opportunity for somebody else."
In this case, "somebody else" is Steve Eminger, who has played only 18 of Washington's first 80 games this season. He'll be in the lineup in Morrisonn's place on Thursday. Coming into this season, Eminger had averaged 18:41 a night over the course of his 192-game NHL career. This season, he has skated sparingly. Even when in the lineup Eminger has averaged just 11:18 in 2007-08.
"The last thing I want is for someone to get hurt," says Eminger. "No one wishes for that. But there are opportunities that are presented and when there are pressure situations and you perform, I think it goes a long way.
"There have been a couple games where I've come in and I haven't played for some time. I think in those situations you can't come in and try to do too much. You got to try to play simple and let things kind of play themselves out in the game, and I think that's how I am going to approach it.
"I'm very excited to hopefully be a part of this and move on to the playoffs and play a role in the playoffs as well."
Washington's power play ranks seventh in the NHL with a conversion rate of 18.9%. The Capitals are 25th in the league in penalty killing with a kill rate of 80.4%. The Caps are a perfect nine-for-nine on the kill in their last two games.
Tampa Bay comes to town on the heels of a 6-2 loss at the hands of the Hurricanes in Carolina. The Lightning was still hanging close in the Southeast Division race in the early part of February, but it has gone 6-13-3 since the middle of February and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2001-02. The Bolts will be in the thick of the running for the NHL's top draft lottery pick, to be determined on Monday.
The Lightning is 2-5-1 in its last eight games, and has allowed 29 goals (3.63 per game) during that stretch.
Ex-Capital Jeff Halpern has been with the Lightning since coming from Dallas in a Feb. 26 trade deadline deal with Dallas. Of all the players in the league who changed addresses at the deadline this year, Halpern leads all of them in scoring. In 17 games with Tampa Bay, Halpern has 10 goals and 18 points. He notched his 20th goal of the season last night in Carolina, the second 20-goal season of his career and his first since his sophomore campaign of 2000-01 when he was with Washington.
The Lightning boasts a dangerous power play unit. Tampa Bay has clicked on 19.3% of its man-advantage opportunities this season, the fifth best rate in the league. The Bolts have killed off 81.8% of the opposition's power play chances this season, 18th in the NHL.
Fun Fact: Alex Ovechkin has 161 career goals going into Washington's last two games of the 2007-08 season. With one more goal, he will crack the Caps all-time top 10 in goals. With his next goal, Ovechkin will tie longtime Caps winger Kelly Miller for 10th on the team's all-time list with 162 goals. Miller needed 940 games to score 162 goals; Ovechkin has scored 161 in 243 career games.
Injuries
Tampa Bay Lightning
Defenseman Paul Ranger has a shoulder injury and is day-to-day.
Center Chris Gratton had hip surgery and is out indefinitely.
Center Tim Taylor has a hip injury and is out indefinitely.
Center Ryan Craig has a knee injury and is out indefinitely.
Washington
Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn has an upper body injury and is out for Thursday's game.
Defenseman Brian Pothier has an upper body injury and is day-to-day.
Center Michael Nylander underwent shoulder surgery and is out 3-6 months.
Right wing Chris Clark has a groin injury and is day-to-day.

Center David Steckel has a broken finger and is day-to-day.
Possible Line Combos and Defensive Pairings
Tampa Bay Forwards
10-Jokinen, 4-Lecavalier, 26-St. Louis
21-Darche, 11-Halpern, 7-Ouellet
74-Tarnasky, 29-MacDonald, 42-Lessard
3-Janik, 24-Karlsson, 16-Ward

Tampa Bay Defensemen
22-Boyle, 32-Smaby
2-Picard, 71-Kuba
37-Lukowich, 39-Lundin
Goaltenders

31-Ramo, 40-Holmqvist
Washington Forwards

8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 25-Kozlov
28-Semin, 91-Fedorov, 24-Cooke
43-Fleischmann, 21-Laich, 14-Fehr
87-Brashear, 15-Gordon, 10-Bradley

Washington Defensemen

3-Poti, 52-Green
55-Schultz, 23-Jurcina
4-Erskine, 44-Eminger

Goaltenders

37-Kolzig, 38-Huet
\\\\\\
Finally, Some Help
The Caps have been tearing it up for a couple weeks now, and they'll need to keep doing so through the weekend. As hot as the Caps have been, it's been tough watching the rest of the teams ahead of them also maintain a similarly strong pace. Despite winning nine of their last 10 and 13 of its last 17, the Caps still need to win out and get a bit of help to sneak into the playoffs. But Philly lost last night, and Boston lost in a shootout. Ottawa has been struggling, to put it mildly.
With the events of last night, the Caps have some viable possibilities for getting into the Stanley Cup playoffs. They need to win both remaining games, tonight against Tampa Bay and Saturday against Florida. That won't be nearly as easy as it sounds.
Assuming they are able to take care of their end, any one of these combination of events will get the Caps in.
- Carolina loses in regulation or overtime to Florida on Friday
- Ottawa loses one of its two remaining games (tonight at TOR and Fri. vs. BOS) in regulation or loses both in overtime
- Boston loses one of its two remaining games (at OTT on Fri. and vs. BUF on Sat.) in regulation or loses both in overtime
- Philadelphia loses one of its two remaining games (Fri. vs. NJ and Sun. vs. PIT) in regulation or overtime
And if you really want to simplify it, the Caps are in if they win out and the Friday BOS-OTT game is settled in regulation, regardless of who wins it.
Even if it does not win the Southeast Division, Washington can finish as high as fifth (unlikely, because the Rangers would have to finish with three straight regulation losses and other teams would need to lose, too). Winding up in the sixth, seventh or eighth spot is far more likely.
Again, all of this is out the window if Washington doesn't defeat the Lightning tonight and the Panthers on Saturday. It's been a little less than five years since the Caps last played meaningful hockey on home ice, and Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis was the guy who dealt the death blow at Verizon Center on Easter Sunday that afternoon. St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier have hurt the Caps in the past, and Washington needs to make sure it doesn't happen tonight.
Steve Eminger will replace the injured Shaone Morrisonn (week-to-week with an upper body injury) in the lineup. Center David Steckel practiced again today but still doesn't have enough range of motion in his broken finger to get the medical clearance required to return to the lineup. He's day-to-day; a return on Saturday against Florida is a slight possibility, but he may be ready for the playoffs if the Caps are able to advance.
Finally, I'll leave you with this. As one of the guys who has been through the lean seasons here, Eminger is fairly chomping at the bit to get into the lineup and be part of the fun. Believe it or not, Eminger is the second-longest tenured Capital, having been chosen one pick ahead of Alexander Semin in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Only goaltender Olie Kolzig has been with the organization continuously longer than Eminger.
Like most of the rest of us who've been around for a while, he is getting caught up in the ongoing excitement of the Caps' stretch run.
"This is a first for me," says Eminger. "That one year that we went to the playoffs I was only here for half the year and I didn't see because I wasn't here for the turnaround. But it's unbelievable, that feeling that it's so close again and getting into the playoffs, anything could happen. Thinking that you could be in the Stanley Cup finals is a dream come true.
"The crowd Tuesday was unbelievable. Obviously I watched it, and I was in the crowd watching it. It was loud all game, not just when things were happening. It was loud all game. I was trying to talk to [Brian Pothier] during the game and we had to yell during the game. That's how loud it was.
"The support is great and it goes a long way. We feed off of it. The crowd, people might not think it sometimes, but that plays a big role in momentum swings."
Now that he is getting back into the lineup, I wondered if Eminger feels the energy from his teammates and if he can feed off that as he gets back in.
"Yeah, I do," he tells me. "I was just as excited as they were watching it. I wasn't playing, but I felt kind of nervous all game. I think it's almost harder to watch than to play because you have absolutely no control. I felt like a fan watching it and at times you're nervous over what's going to happen. But they played unbelievable. From goalie to defense to forwards, I thought it was a dominant performance and one of our top 60-minute performances."
Two more like that could lead to the possibility of several more like that.