Pothier's Blast Buries Bolts

While all the pregame talk over the Caps' last meeting with Tampa Bay over Alex Ovechkin's "hot stick" celebration - one that got Bruce Boudreau's ire up - there wasn't much of a reaction from the Lightning on the ice towards the Capitals' superstar despite the tough talk.

However, much like the last get-together between the two teams down at the St. Pete Times Forum, the Lightning's star forwards kept the game close and gave Washington quite a battle as the Caps look to fine-tune their game towards the playoffs. Tampa Bay erased a two-goal Washington lead to pull even early in the third, but like the game eight days ago down in Florida, the Capitals used another third-period strike from one of their blueliners to bury Tampa Bay's spoiler hopes.

Nicklas Backstrom scored a pair of goals for the Caps, reaching the 20-goal milestone for the first time in his career, but but it was Brian Pothier's third-period goal that was the difference in the game. It was Pothier's first goal in 15 months, and gave the Capitals a 5-3 win as the team closes on its second straight Southeast Division title.

The Caps moved to 5-0-0 against the Lightning on the season, and also see their magic number to clinch the Southeast Division to just three points. The two teams will meet for the final time on April 9 down in Tampa, where Washington will look to sweep the season series from the Bolts for the first time since taking all five games in the 1999-2000 season. It also was the Caps' 10th straight win over Tampa Bay, the most in club history since taking 11 straight from the Islanders between 1998 and 2000.

The Capitals got an early chance to take advantage of a full two-minute 5-on-3, when both Matt Smaby and Josef Melichar got whistled on the same play. While the Caps looked like they might not take advantage of the early chance, Alex Ovechkin - minus the "hot stick" celebration he used in Tampa - blasted in his 52nd of the season with 6:49 gone in the game.

The Caps took a 2-0 lead with 8:43 left in the frame when Backstrom and Tomas Fleischmann redirected an Ovechkin feed into the net with his skate. While the tally went under review, it determined that while the puck was kicked in past Lightning keeper Mike McKenna, it was not distinctly a kicking motion and was allowed to stand. While the goal was originally credited to Fleischmann, it was later given to Backstrom during the second intermission for what was retroactively his 20th goal of the season.

Michael Nylander then hit the crossbar with less than five minutes to play, and Tampa took advantage with a fluky tally. Martin St. Louis put Tampa Bay on the board with 4:12 to play in the frame with a turnaround shot from the point that was deflected by Tom Poti past Jose Theodore to cut the deficit to 2-1.

However, before the period ended, the Caps restored their two-goal advantage as they took advantage of a late Tampa Bay penalty. As the advantage wound down, Backstrom knocked down a rebound of a Mike Green shot, corralled the puck and tapped it in with :21.9 left in the frame for a 3-1 edge and what turned out to be his second goal of the night.

The Lightning had a couple of good chances to cut the deficit to one during the second period, when Theodore misplayed the puck behind the net, but also made a nice stop on St. Louis on a breakaway to keep the two-goal lead during the middle part of the frame.

That wouldn't last til the intermission, as last summer's top pick Steve Stamkos made a nice move in front to collect a loose puck and beat Theodore with a backhand with :54 left in the second to cut the lead to 3-2.

Former Capitals captain Jeff Halpern appeared to score the equalizer with 2:30 gone in the third period, but Evgeny Arutkhin gave his team a costly penalty when he got tangled up with John Erskine in front, leading to a washing out of an apparent Tampa power play goal. However, just :29 later, the Lightning scored a goal that stuck when Vaclav Prospal beat Theodore with a floating shot from the top of the circle that eluded the netminder.

However, the deadlock didn't last long, as Pothier scored his first goal since December of 2007 with a shot that put the Caps back in front just 1:31 after the Prospal goal. It was a nice moment for Pothier to score in just his fourth game back after being out since last January with post-concussion symptoms.

The Capitals appeared to get an insurance goal when Brooks Laich beat McKenna on a rebound with 4:22 to play in the dying seconds of a power play, but the goal was washed out as referee Kelly Sutherland ruled that Nylander had incidental contact with the netminder and the score stayed at 4-3.

Washington kept Tampa at bay even with the extra man late, and held on for the victory as Ovechkin earned his 53rd goal of the year with just :06.5 left by depositing the puck into the gaping cage to also hit the 100-point mark on the season. The defending MVP now leads New Jersey's Zach Parise by 11 goals in the race for the Richard Trophy, while he also moves just six back of Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin to hold onto the Ross Trophy.

The Capitals now have a couple of days off before they continue their four-game homestand when the Islanders visit Verizon Center Wednesday. Washington might get a chance to clinch the division title against the Islanders should the Hurricanes lose in regulation or overtime to the Devils Saturday night, which would trim the magic number to two or one, depending on the result.

If the 'Canes do beat New Jersey tomorrow, the celebration will have to wait until at least Thursday, when Carolina hosts the Rangers. Should Carolina post its 10th straight home win against New York then, then the Caps could get a chance to clinch Friday night when Buffalo visits Verizon - provided they can get at least a point against the Isles.

Regardless of the 'Canes result, Washington will get a chance to pass the century mark in points Wednesday for the first time since the 1999-2000 season. Washington is also just eight points shy of the team's all-time points mark of 107 set back in 1985-86 with six games still to play.

The Capitals also close to just three points of idle Boston for top seed in the East (although with Boston holding three games in hand), while New Jersey drops a point behind Washington in the race for second seed after falling in a 3-2 overtime loss to Chicago. The Devils still holds the potential wins tiebreaker, and also has pair of games in hand, with one coming tomorrow against Carolina.