Washington is 4-4-1 so far against NHL’s bottom 10
The Capitals have been at their best so far this season against the Eastern Conference’s top teams. That’s an encouraging trend — but not one that they care to take for granted entering tonight’s 7 p.m. home game against the Ottawa Senators at Verizon Center.
The Caps (16-10-3, 35 points) rank seventh among NHL teams in points so far and are 6-1 against the rest of the top 10 with wins over the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Vancouver, Anaheim and, most recently, Boston.
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Things haven’t come as easy against teams at the bottom of the standings, however. It is still early so the standings don’t show much separation yet. But of the teams with 27 points or less – the league’s bottom 10 – the Caps are 4-4-1. Against teams slotted between No. 11 and 20 they are 5-5-2.
“It gives us confidence that we can beat the good teams in this league,” said Caps forward Matt Bradley. “But we have to be ready to play any team – first or last place it should be the same mindset. If we are getting more up for [the bigger] games then we have to figure out a way to do that against teams that aren’t ranked as high.”
The Senators (10-11-5, 26 points) find themselves among those bottom feeders, sitting in last place in the Northeast Division after Wednesday’s 2-0 loss at Chicago. The Stanley Cup runners-up two years ago are now a full-blown enigma. A recent six-game losing streak was quickly followed by four wins out of five. But Ottawa then lost in overtime to Florida at home on Monday before falling to Chicago.
Secondary scoring has been a problem all season for the Senators, whose dynamic top line of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza has combined for 33 of their NHL-low 63 goals.
“The problem is they can be ineffective for a little bit, but you know they’re going to break out,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “You can’t hold [that line] in check all the time. You just don’t want [the breakout] to be against you.”
The Caps are still dealing with a myriad of injuries. Goalie Brent Johnson (hip) and defenseman Tom Poti (groin) both sat out Thursday’s practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Boudreau declined to name a starter in goal and could go with Jose Theodore if Johnson is still hurting today.
Poti rested after playing for the first time in six games. The Caps are close to seeing two more key players return. Defenseman Mike Green (shoulder) and forward Sergei Fedorov (ankle) both practiced at full speed and each said he could play tonight. If not, they are shooting for Saturday night’s game against Montreal. Forwards Tomas Fleischmann (lower body) and Eric Fehr (shoulder) and defenseman John Erskine (concussion) will not play.
The Senators and Caps last played Nov. 4, a 2-1 Ottawa victory in overtime. Forward Mike Fisher scored the game-winner with just 40 seconds left in the extra period. Fleischmann had the lone goal for Washington, which had swept the season series with the Senators last season, 4-0.
“They play a pretty aggressive style, they force turnovers,” said Alfredsson, Ottawa’s team captain. “So if we’re smart we’re going to get the puck in deep and force them to play in their own end as much as possible.”
