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Alex Ovechkin had a goal, Braden Holtby made 17 saves and the
playoff-bound Capitals beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-2 on Friday.
Jason Chimera, T.J. Oshie and Jay Beagle also scored for the
Capitals, who were sharp as they get ready for the playoffs.
Washington (55-15-6) has already clinched the Presidents' Cup for
the NHL's most points but didn't take a night off. The Capitals
dominated shots on goal in establishing a franchise record for wins
in a season.
"You can't play these games out and then flip a switch," Beagle
said. "Everyone knows we've got to start gearing up for it now and
hit the playoffs running."
One incentive is getting Holtby a record that has stood for nine
years. The goalie won his 47th game of the season, leaving him one
shy of Martin Brodeur's NHL record set in 2006-07.
The Capitals want Holtby to pass Brodeur, and he could at least
match him Saturday night when they play at Arizona.
"Two to go," Ovechkin said. "We're going to do our best to help him
out. It's a lifetime opportunity and we're going to do our best."
Semyon Varlamov had 43 saves and Jarome Iginla and Gabriel Landeskog
scored for the Avalanche, which missed a chance to gain on Minnesota
for the last wild card in the Western Conference.
Not even the return of leading scorer Matt Duchene from a knee
injury could help Colorado close the gap on the Wild. The Avalanche
(39-35-4) trail Minnesota by five points with four games left. The
Wild lost in regulation in Detroit earlier Friday and have three
contests remaining.
"We had a chance to get it within three with a game in hand and we
didn't play very well," defenseman Tyson Barrie said. "We want to
win, we want to be in the playoffs. It was disappointing tonight,
but we're not going to hang our heads."
If the Avalanche fail to catch Minnesota, they can blame their poor
home record. Colorado is 17-18-4 at Pepsi Center, including three
straight losses on home ice.
"When you don't play .500 hockey at home it's hard to make the
playoffs," Colorado coach Patrick Roy said. "Those nights you have
to find a way, the ugly way, whatever way it is you have to find a
way to win a game like this."
Colorado fell behind 3-0 Friday and nearly came back when Landeskog
scored his 20th of the season at 14:21 to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Varlamov came off for an extra skater with 2:25 left and Oshie
scored his 25th goal into the empty net with 9.9 seconds left.
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The game wouldn't have been that close but the Capitals hit the post
five times and Varlamov made some big saves early.
"The only reason the game was close was Varlamov and the posts,"
Washington coach Barry Trotz said. "We could have lit them up
tonight."
After hitting the crossbar twice, being foiled on two breakaways and
stoned on a great one-timer, the Capitals scored three times in a
span of 5:26.
Beagle finally broke through on Washington's 21st shot when he
stuffed the puck between the post and Varlamov's pad at 8:50 of the
second. It was his eighth of the season.
Ovechkin made it 2-0 with a power-play goal at 13:57 of the second,
his NHL-leading 45th tally of the season, and Chimera finished the
flurry 1:19 later with his 19th.
Iginla got Colorado on the board with a power-play goal late in the
second period, ending a home scoreless drought of 104 minutes for
the Avalanche.
Iginla has 609 career goals, one behind Bobby Hull for 16th
all-time. It was also his 20th goal of the season, the 17th time in
19 seasons he's reached that mark.
NOTES: Capitals C Nicklas Backstrom was out because of an
undisclosed injury suffered Wednesday against Philadelphia.
Washington coach Barry Trotz said Backstrom is being held out "for
precautionary reasons." The Capitals already clinched the
President's Cup for most regular-season points in the NHL. ... The
Avalanche went 3-3 with C Matt Duchene out with a knee injury. His
return meant RW Jack Skille was a healthy scratch. ... The Capitals
have five games remaining after Friday's matchup with Colorado. ...
Avalanche C Nathan MacKinnon has not started skating and his return
before the end of the regular season is in doubt. MacKinnon was hurt
on an inadvertent hit during Colorado's win at Calgary on March 18.
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