Capitals try to secure East's top seed in clash with Flames

Hockey Betting Lines

03/28/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Washington Capitals will attempt to lock up the Eastern Conference's top seed this afternoon versus the Calgary Flames, who will look to avoid falling further back in the West's playoff race at Verizon Center.

Having already clinched their third straight Southeast Division title, the Capitals will try to secure the Eastern Conference's top seed by earning at least a point in this game versus Calgary. Washington can also claim the No. 1 spot in the East with a New Jersey loss to Philadelphia Sunday night.

All that will be left for Washington after that is the Presidents' Trophy, which is awarded to the team that finishes the regular season with the most points. The Caps currently hold a seven-point edge over the Sharks for that award with eight games to play.

Washington set a club record on Thursday in a shootout loss to Carolina, as the club notched its 109th point of the season. That broke the previous mark of 108 set by last season's team.

Alexander Semin scored his 35th goal of the season while defenseman John Carlson posted the first of his NHL career in the 3-2 setback. Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves but allowed two goals in the shootout session. Nicklas Backstrom scored in the shootout round for Washington, but Alex Ovechkin, Semin, Tomas Fleischmann and Mike Green all failed on their chances.

"We weren't ready to play," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's safe to say that in the first 10 minutes we were leaving our poor goalie out to dry...I don't know if that happens when you play an emotional game the night before, but I thought the last two periods we picked it up pretty well."

The Capitals, who were coming off a shootout win over the rival Penguins on Wednesday, are still 4-1-1 in their last six games and hold an excellent 27-4-4 record at home this year.

Washington did play its second game without Brooks Laich, who is questionable again today after being hit in the face with a puck during practice on Tuesday. Boyd Gordon (back) and Scott Walker (knee) are also questionable.

The Caps were 6-0 with a pair of ties in their previous eight games versus the Flames before Calgary notched a 2-1 home win over Washington on Oct. 21, 2008. The Capitals are still 4-0 with a tie in their last five at home versus the Flames, who have just one win and a pair of ties in their last 10 trips to DC.

Calgary comes to town having lost two straight and three of its last four games to fall six points back of eighth-place Colorado in the Western standings with seven games to play. The Flames have made the playoffs in each of the past five seasons.

"It's literally all Game 7's for us now," said captain Jarome Iginla after the team's 5-0 loss to Boston on Saturday. "Other teams have done it in the past and run the table near the end. We've put together a couple of times five or six wins this year and we're going to need it now."

Miikka Kiprusoff was beaten five times on 29 shots in 45-plus minutes versus the Bruins, while Vesa Toskala stopped all six shots he faced in relief.

The Flames are winless on a three-game road trip that ends today and have lost three straight as the guest.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.