The Capitals face Boston in the last home game of the regular season.
WASHINGTON — The Washington Capitals are on a mission to sneak into the Stanley Cup Playoffs with two games left on the regular season slate, and they took care of business with a 2-0 win over the Boston Bruins on Monday.
The Hockey News has a play-by-play recap ready.
Third Period
0:00 — Charlie Lindgren secures his team-leading sixth shutout for the win, and D.C. can clinch a playoff spot on Tuesday.
0:11 — Nic Dowd seals the deal with an empty-netter. Capitals up 2-0.
2:18 — Bruins pull the goalie looking for the game-tying goal.
7:30 — Charlie Lindgren with an impressive kickout save to preserve the lead, then a huge block by Sonny Milano to keep the puck out of a wide-open cage.
10:00 — Nicolas Aube-Kubel is back.
13:48 — Capitals to the power play.
17:30 — Nicolas Aube-Kubel has also left the game and went down the tunnel to the locker room. He was holding a towel to his face.
20:00 — Capitals return for the second, still up 1-0. Beck Malenstyn will not return due to an upper-body injury.
Second Period
0:00 — After 40, Capitals continue to lead the Bruins 1-0. Washington is dominating 22-8 in shots on goal.
4:13 — Beck Malenstyn goes down hard after a late hit from Trent Frederic and goes off down the tunnel. He did not return for the remainder of the period.
7:40 — Charlie Lindgren coming up with some absolutely huge stops in this second period. Still 1-0 D.C.
20:00 — We're back for the second period. Capitals up 1-0.
First Period
0:00 — After 20, Capitals lead the Bruins 1-0 on a goal from John Carlson. Washington leads 7-4 in shots on goal.
4:21 — Charlie Lindgren comes up with big with a quick glove save in front to keep his team in front.
8:00 — John Carlson rockets one from the point, and it beats Swayman. Capitals lead 1-0.
8:26 — Charlie Lindgren finally gets some action, catching a puck out of mid-air that was going over the net anyway for his first save of the game. Shots are 4-1 in favor of D.C.
11:52 — Capitals doing a good job so far of containing Boston. Shots are 3-0 in Washington's favor.
20:00 — Puck is dropped, and Caps-Bruins is underway.
Pregame
Here are the Capitals line combinations.
Alex Ovechkin-Connor McMichael-T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Max Pacioretty-Hendrix Lapierre-Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Alex Alexeyev-Dylan McIlrath
Trevor van Riemsdyk-Vincent Iorio
Charlie Lindgren
Darcy Kuemper
Washington Capitals Playoff Scenarios
The Capitals need some major help from the out-of-town scoreboard to simplify things. If they win, and the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings lose in regulation, D.C. just has to worry about Philadelphia on Tuesday, as a win or overtime loss to the Flyers would get the job done and help them clinch.
If Washington loses against Boston, it must win on Tuesday and get losses from the Penguins and Red Wings. The team can lose in overtime to Boston and still get in by beating Philadelphia on Tuesday and having Pittsburgh and Detroit lose.
To sum it up:
2-0-0: Capitals clinch
1-0-1: Capitals clinch if they defeat Philadelphia and Detroit and Pittsburgh go 1-0-1 or worse or if the New York Islanders go 0-2-0.
1-1-0: Capitals clinch if they beat Philadelphia and Detroit and Pittsburgh go 1-1.
0-1-1 or 0-0-2: Capitals eliminated
How To Watch Capitals vs. Bruins
The game will be live on Monumental Sports Network, and there will also be an alt feed.
Fans can also tune in on Caps Radio 24/7 and 106.7 FM The Fan.