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Posted at 11:15 AM EST

7:05 PM EST. OT included. Washington has been getting by on good bounces all season long. For the most part, the Caps have rode a high shooting percentage to a positive record but it’s a rare day when they outplay anyone, especially playoff bound teams. All season, the analytics suggest that the Caps are comparable to teams like Vancouver and Detroit and that they’re not even close to being a top-tiered team. That’s the first part of this story. The second part is the Lightning, a team whose only positive result this year would be a Stanley Cup. Anything less would be considered a failure. That brings us to the third part of this story.

Tampa has been on cruise control for weeks. They are a virtual lock for the President’s Trophy and now it’s just about waiting for the playoffs to begin but there is one last order of business. You see, this is the first meeting of the season between the Caps and Lightning and the first meeting since Washington knocked the Bolts out of the playoffs last year in a seven game series. The last order of business for the Lightning is to put the Caps on notice that it ain’t happening again this year. This is an important message to send to an inferior opponent and in its last important game of the year before the playoffs begin, look for Tampa to send that message in spades. The Lightning already put the Maple Leafs on notice with a 6-2 win earlier this week and the Caps are next up.

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