vs.

This week we feature the fourth and final meeting of this season between two Eastern Conference rivals fighting for the final playoff positions, the Washington Capitals at Ottawa Senators, as the LCS: Guide to Hockey Game of the Week.

The Washington Capitals are currently clinging to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. However, the Capitals have only seven games remaining, against some pretty stiff opposition: Philadelphia, New Jersey, Ottawa, Florida, Montreal, NY Islanders and Buffalo. All of these teams either in the playoffs or still in the dogfight for those seventh and eighth seeds.

The Ottawa Senators could have been satisfied with simply moving out of the cellar of the entire National Hockey League. Jacques Martin's club is hungry for more. The Sens have not folded, and are still quite in the hunt for a playoff spot. Ottawa has eight games left, also against quality competition: Montreal, Buffalo, Washington, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Hartford, Detroit and Buffalo again.

Through games played on March 28, the fight for the final playoff positions in the Eastern Conference was intense. Montreal and Washington held the seven and eight seeds, with four teams, including the Senators, close on their heels:

Team           GP    W    L    T   Pts    GF   GA     Home      Road
Montreal       75   28   33   14    70   232  258  16-16-6   12-17-8
Washington     75   30   37    8    68   191  211  17-15-4   13-22-4
Hartford       74   28   36   10    66   200  231  20-14-3    8-22-7
NY Islanders   74   27   36   11    65   211  220  17-16-4   10-20-7
Ottawa         74   25   34   15    65   203  219  12-17-8   13-17-7
Tampa Bay      74   29   38    7    65   201  231  14-18-7   15-20-0

The Capitals and Senators have contested only 18 games prior to our featured contest. Washington holds a wide margin over Ottawa, having gone 12-4-2 against the Senators. However, the Caps record was a much better 12-1-2 prior to this season, with an amazing 78 goals for, and 39 goals against, before Ottawa's turnaround this year.

Washington and Ottawa met for the first time this season on 1/11/97 at the USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland. Ron Tugnutt stopped 31 of 32 Capital shots to earn the victory, while Jim Carey could only stop 13 of 15 shots, as Ottawa triumphed with a 2-1 victory.

The teams met for the second time of the season on 2/1/97 at the Corel Centre in Kanata, Ontario. Daniel Alfredsson and Randy Cunneyworth each had one goal and two assists for the Sens, who went 3-for-7 with the man-advantage en route to a 5-1 victory. Ron Tugnutt again manned the pipes for Ottawa against his former organization, while this time it was Olaf Kolzig victimized in the Washington net.

After the victory, Ron Tugnutt had this to say: "But it's a huge win for us. It vaults us into an area where we're in striking distance to make things interesting."

The two squads met again just over a month later on 2/18/97, back in Washington. Jim Carey's return to the nets for the Caps could not prevent a 6-1 Ottawa victory, the third straight of the year for the Senators and Ron Tugnutt over Washington.

"These are critical games," Washington coach Jim Schoenfeld had to say after the disappointing loss. "We've got to find ways to win these games. Theses are the teams that are in the hunt with us and we can't wait for people to get back (from injuries to win)."

Last season, the Caps and Senators met four times, with Washington emerging victorious every time. The dates and results: 1/11/96 - WASHINGTON 6, Ottawa 1; 2/1/96 - Washington 4, OTTAWA 2; 3/29/96 - WASHINGTON 5, Ottawa 0; 4/5/96 - Washington 4, OTTAWA 3.

Game Prediction

Prognosticator says: Ottawa 4, Washington 1

Ottawa will defeat Washington in the battle of Capital Cities. Come on folks, we all know that if it came down to war, Canada would kick the United States' ass. Well, maybe that is stretching things a bit, but an Ottawa win over Washington would not be entirely shocking. After all, the Senators have already beaten the Caps three times this season, outscoring them 13-3. Ron Tugnutt has three victories in three games against Washington, allowing only one goal in each contest. Even if Bill Ranford is in net for the Caps, it is not as if the Bruins were doing so well against the Senators with him in goal. Besides, any time you are pretty sure Ron Tugnutt will be in goal, it's pretty damn hard to pick against him.

Record So Far...

Last week your prognosticator predicted a New Jersey victory over Philadelphia by a 4-2 score. However, the Flyers took the Devils by a 4-3 count. With the loss, your prognosticator's record on the season now stands at 17-10-4.

Other Quality Games This Week

Montreal at Hartford, Wednesday, April 2: This game also figures prominently in the Eastern Conference playoff standings.

Hartford at Montreal, Saturday, April 5: If one of these teams is swept by the other, they will find it very tough to make the playoffs.

Tampa Bay at NY Islanders, Saturday, April 5: These teams are not currently in a playoff seed, but a victory here will help in their push for one.

LCS: guide to hockey © copyright 1997 all rights reserved