CAPITALS (55-17-8) at BLUES (49-23-9)
TV: 8 p.m. ET; CSN-DC, FS-MW, NHLN
Season series: Jake Allen made 32 saves for his sixth shutout of the season to help the St. Louis Blues to a 4-0 victory against the Washington Capitals on March 26, the Blues' fourth-straight shutout victory. Kyle Brodziak, Colton Parayko, Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrik Berglund scored for St. Louis. Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves for the Capitals.
Capitals team scope: Right wing T.J. Oshie will face St. Louis for the first time since being traded to Washington during the offseason. Oshie, who spent the first seven seasons of his career in St. Louis, didn't play in the first game because of illness. "It'll maybe be emotional going out for warmups, during the national anthem and maybe even the first couple shifts, but I think with the time gone by, it's a full season almost, and Washington feels like my new home now," Oshie told the Capitals website. Washington coach Barry Trotz didn't commit to a goalie for the two remaining games. Starter Braden Holtby is one win shy of tying Martin Brodeur's NHL record of 48 wins in a season set in 2006-07. The Capitals host the Anaheim Ducks Sunday at home and it is unlikely Holtby will play each game of the back-to-back set. Trotz said defensemen Mike Weber and Taylor Chorney will each get play in one of the two games. Each have been healthy scratches since March 22. Washington has lost three straight (0-1-2) and five of the past seven (2-2-3).
Blues team scope: St. Louis can clinch a second consecutive Central Division title and top seed in the Western Conference but needs to get more points Saturday than the Dallas Stars get against the Nashville Predators. "Every team has to play now," coach Ken Hitchcock said. "Dallas has to play for points, we've got to keep playing for points and then we'll just see where it goes. It's nice to know we're going to have home ice [in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs] no matter who it is." The Blues are 7-1-0 in their past eight games and have won 13 of 16 (13-3-0) since Feb. 28. Rookie center Robby Fabbri will return after missing the past four games with a lower-body injury. "Today was another good day," Fabbri said after practice. "I'm trying to make sure when I come back, I'm at 100 percent. ... I'm trying to get better each day and it's been a good go around this time."
The St. Louis Blues were 76 seconds away from falling out of contention for the top seed in the Western Conference before Vladimir Tarasenko decided not to let it happen.
The Washington Capitals secured the top spot in the East a long time ago, and that may have contributed to them entering their final two games looking to snap a season-high skid.
With plenty to gain in the regular season's final weekend, the Blues try for their fourth consecutive win over the visiting Capitals on Saturday night.
St. Louis (49-23-9) is riding an 8-1-0 stretch to keep the pressure on West-leading Dallas, which hosts Nashville in its final contest Saturday night. The teams have identical records, though the Stars have clinched the first tiebreaker.
The Blues' outside chance to finish atop the West, however, only exists because of Tarasenko's flurry Thursday at Chicago. He set a career high with his 38th goal to tie the game at 1 with 1:16 left, then delivered St. Louis' third straight victory 3:37 into overtime.
Tarasenko extended his point streak to seven and Brian Elliott made 24 saves to avoid his first loss in 13 starts.
''We want home ice the whole way,'' Elliott said. ''Obviously, Washington is going to win that. But in our conference, in our division there, if we can get that home-ice advantage, that's a big thing. Especially if we get past the first couple of series.''
The Blues have won five of six at home.
If it ends up with the top seed, St. Louis would meet Minnesota in the first round. Otherwise, it will be a rematch of last year's first-round series against the Blackhawks, won in six games by Chicago.
The Blues defeated Washington 4-0 on March 26 for their third consecutive win in the series. Tarasenko was among four St. Louis players who scored, while Jake Allen made 32 saves.
Elliott, expected to start Saturday, has gone 11-0-0 with a 1.84 goals-against average in his last 13, matching a team record for consecutive wins.
Washington (55-17-8) is mired in its longest losing streak of the season at 0-2-1. It's dropped five of seven, a stretch that began with the defeat to the Blues.
Marcus Johansson snapped an 18-game goal drought with two and Andre Burakovsky added one as part of a three-goal Washington rally Thursday, but Pittsburgh won 4-3 in overtime for its eighth straight victory.
After leading the league with 3.30 goals per game through 57 contests, Washington is in the bottom third with 2.39 over its last 23.
''The work ethic wasn't there, the execution - nothing was,'' goaltender Braden Holtby said. ''I don't know how we got to overtime, so it was a big challenge tonight going against the hottest team in the league, and hopefully, we realize that we're a lot better team than that and we need to work.''
Holtby made 31 saves but was denied in his second attempt to tie Martin Brodeur's single-season record of 48 wins. He sat out last month's game against the Blues, though he's won his two career starts against them with a 1.00 GAA.
Along with a motivated St. Louis team, the Capitals host an Anaheim club Sunday that could have a chance to win the Pacific Division.
"I think that's just what we need," Johansson said. "It's good for us to step it up a little bit and get into a little bit more of a playoff mode, I think, and try to come out with two big wins."
