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Capitals, Panthers close out regular season in Florida

Apr 9, 2011 - 3:24 PM (Sports Network) - The Washington Capitals get one final warm-up before they enter the postseason as the Eastern Conference's top seed for a second straight year.

The Caps and Florida Panthers wrap their respective regular seasons this evening at BankAtlantic Center.

Washington currently stands atop the East with 107 points, three more than second-seeded Philadelphia. The Caps clinched home-ice advantage throughout the Eastern Conference playoffs with the Flyers' overtime loss to the Sabres last night.

Washington comes into its regular-season finale well rested, having not played since Wednesday's 5-2 win over these same Panthers. Mike Knuble and Jason Chimera both had power-play goals, Alex Ovechkin scored into an empty net to go along with two assists and Semyon Varlamov posted 31 saves.

The Capitals earned their fourth straight victory and improved to 16-2-1 in their last 19 games.

"We started a job that we'd like to finish on Saturday," Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau said before his team had officially claimed the No. 1 seed in the East.

Washington's 107 points are tied for the third most in franchise history, but well off the 121-point pace the club turned in last season to win its first ever Presidents' Trophy.

While Jason Arnott (undisclosed), Scott Hannan (undisclosed) and Alexander Semin (wrist) are all questionable for this game, defenseman Mike Green is expected to return to the ice for the first time since Feb. 25 due to a concussion as he looks to get into playoff shape.

Washington's victory over Florida on Wednesday gave it a 3-0-1 mark in the last four games of this series as well as a victory in nine of the past 11 meetings overall. The Capitals have taken four of five and eight of their last 11 trips to Sunrise.

David Booth and Mike Santorelli had Florida's goals versus the Capitals earlier in the week, while Scott Clemmensen made 20 saves in the Panthers' ninth straight loss.

That losing streak reached 10 in a row (0-7-3) on Friday with a 4-2 setback at Tampa Bay in Florida's final road game of the season. Santorelli and Jason Garrison had the goals, while Clemmensen allowed four goals on 33 shots.

"We took too many bad penalties," Santorelli said.

The Panthers' current losing streak is their longest since an 0-8-4 rut from Oct. 27-Nov. 23, 2005, and each of the last four setbacks have come in regulation. They have been outscored 17-7 in that four-game span.

Florida finished the season with a 14-23-4 mark on the road and bring a 15-17-8 home record into this meeting. The Panthers have lost 10 of their last 13 in Sunrise.