Caps Clinch #1 in East, Fall to Flames

None of the 6 games on Sunday really deserves the Game of the Night, but since I have to pick, I'm going to go with a Western Conference battle between the Avalanche and the Sharks in San Jose:

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Colorado's road to the playoffs got a little bit more slippery tonight with a loss against the Western Conference-leading San Jose Sharks.

Devin Setoguchi, Jed Ortmeyer, Dan Boyle, and then Setoguchi again tallied for San Jose, while Kevin Porter scored for the Avalanche and Peter Mueller scored twice.

The Sharks had a 1-0 lead after the 1st period, only to see Colorado score 2 straight in the 2nd. Ortmeyer's goal late in the 2nd period brought the game to a 2-2 tie heading to the 3rd.

It was 3-3 in the 3rd when Setoguchi's 2nd of the night with less than 6 minutes remaining in regulation put the Sharks up 4-3.

Craig Anderson made 28 saves for Colorado, as Thomas Greiss got the start for San Jose and helped the Sharks survive with 42 saves, his 7th win of the season.

Colorado remains at 89 points and sits in the 8th and final playoff spot in the West. They are only 4 points up on the the 9th-place Flames with 7 games left, and have a game-in-hand on Calgary. They are 1 point back of 7th, 2 back of 6th, and 3 back of 5th.

San Jose has already clinched a spot as they sit 1st in the West with 104 points, 5 points behind the Capitals for the best record in the league.

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A terrible start tonight for the Capitals doomed them as they could never come back from a 4-0 1st period deficit at the Verizon Center.

Calgary came into the game knowing full well that they needed this one, and that it wasn't going to be easy against the best home team in the NHL. The Flames were shutout by Boston on Saturday and lost on Long Island Thursday, greatly hurting their playoff chances. They weren't about to lose again Sunday.

Calgary jumped all over the Capitals in the 1st period, putting up 4 on goals by Ales Kotalik, Ian White, Jay Bouwmeester, and Niklas Hagman.

Jose Theodore let up the 1st 3 for the Capitals on 10 shots, before he was pulled for Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov ended up getting the loss, as he stopped 10 of the Flames' final 12 shots.

Alex Ovechkin made it 4-1 early in the 2nd, but Rene Bourque answered late that period to put the Flames up 5-1. David Steckel closed out the period with a goal to cut the lead to 5-2.

Everyone knew the Capitals would make a game out of it, and that's what they did as Mathieu Perrault scored on the power-play less than 5 minutes into the 3rd. The rest of the 3rd was all Washington, but Miikka Kiprusoff held his ground for the Flames.

Kiprusoff ended up making 31 saves, including 19 of the 20 Capitals' 3rd period shots. The Capitals outshot Calgary in the 3rd by a total of 20-2.

The Flames now have 85 points and sit 9th in the West, 4 points back of Colorado for 8th and 5 back of L.A. for 7th. But they only have 6 games left and have played 1 more game than the Avalanche and 2 more than the Kings.

Washington loses for only the 5th time in regulation at home all season, as they remain tops in the Eastern Conference and in the NHL with 109 points.

With the Devils' loss to Philadelphia later in the night, Washington clinched the #1 seed in the East.

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Maple Leafs 4 Penguins 5 (SO)

Pittsburgh's win moves them back atop the Atlantic Division, 2 points ahead of the Devils, but they have played 1 more game than New Jersey, and they sit 2nd in the East with 95 points. Toronto has 69 points on the year, last in the East.

Oilers 1 Blues 2

The Blues have won 2-straight and move up to 81 points and sit 10th in the West. Too little too late, though, for St Louis, as their lousy home record is what will help keep them out of the playoffs. They are 8 points back of 8th with only 7 games remaining. Edmonton has 55 points, last in the NHL, and 20 points behind the next-best team in the West, Columbus.

Devils 1 Flyers 5

Philadelphia gets a huge win over their Atlantic Division rivals and they jump back up to 6th in the East with 82 points. They are tied in points with Montreal, but the Canadiens are 7th because of 1 fewer win. The Flyers are 2 points up on the the 8th-place Bruins, and 4 points ahead of the 9th-place Thrashers. New Jersey drops to 4th in the East because of their drop to 2nd in the Atlantic, but they have already clinched a spot and have 93 points.

Blue Jackets 4 Blackhawks 2

When it gets later in the season, teams that are out of it and have nothing to lose are usually the toughest teams to play against for teams that have already clinched, as was the case tonight in Chicago. Columbus' win gives them 75 points on the year, and they sit 14th in the West. Chicago has 99 points, and they are 2nd in the West with a playoff spot in their back pockets.

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Monday's Schedule:

Sabres @ Bruins, 7:00, Versus

Hurricanes @ Thrashers, 7:00

Predators @ Panthers, 7:30

Kings @ Wild, 9:00, FS West

Stars @ Ducks, 10:00, Prime Ticket