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Mar 29, 2016 - 5:28 PM Washington celebrated no more than it did in its previous 53 victories after clinching the second Presidents' Trophy in franchise history - and for good reason. The first time it happened six years ago, the Capitals were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.

The subdued reaction made clear they don't want to be defined by regular-season accomplishments.

The Philadelphia Flyers hope to be Washington's first postseason obstacle, and they can take a step in that direction with a home victory Wednesday night.

The Capitals (54-16-5) secured home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs with Monday's 4-1 victory over Columbus. They tied a pair of single-season franchise records, equaling the 2009-10 team for overall victories and the 1985-86 club with 50 wins in regulation or overtime.

Their 92 third-period goals rank among the NHL leaders after Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie and Nicklas Backstrom scored in the final 20 minutes.

Washington took the victory in stride, though, considering its recent playoff failures. It hasn't advanced to the Eastern Conference finals since losing to Detroit in the 1998 Stanley Cup Final and blew a 3-1 series lead against the New York Rangers in the second round last year.

''It doesn't mean anything, to be honest with you,'' Backstrom said. ''It's good to have home-ice advantage through the playoffs, but at the same time it doesn't matter. It doesn't even mean anything because we lost the last time in the first round when we won the Presidents' Trophy.''

The Capitals remained the league's only team without back-to-back regulation defeats after bouncing back from Saturday's loss to St. Louis. They're beginning a three-game road trip and will play six of their final seven against teams either in the playoffs or fighting to get in.

''We've known for a while that we were going to get (the Presidents' Trophy), so it's not a surprise," said goaltender Braden Holtby, whose 46 wins are two shy of tying Martin Brodeur's NHL record set in 2006-07. "It's just one of those things that it shows we've been doing good things all year and working hard.''

The Flyers are one of only five visiting teams to win in Washington over the past four months - 4-3 in overtime on Jan. 27 - and wouldn't mind being there to open the first round of the playoffs.

Philadelphia (37-25-13) is in a tight battle with Detroit for the East's final playoff spot and earned a crucial two points when Claude Giroux scored with 13.6 seconds left in overtime of Monday's 3-2 win over Winnipeg. The Flyers have seven games remaining, including a showdown at Detroit on April 6.

"We've got to be ready for (Washington) first," forward Wayne Simmonds said after scoring his team-leading 26th goal. "We've just got to worry about ourselves. As long as we play our game, we should be good here."

Giroux also assisted on Simmonds' goal after sitting out the morning skate. His teammates were worried something was wrong, but he ended up playing more than 19 minutes and scored for the fourth time in five games.

"He's an extremely competitive guy," said Steve Mason, who made 26 saves. "He's someone everybody in this room looks to in big moments."

Mason has a 1.76 goals-against average over his last five and should get the majority of work the rest of the way with Michal Neuvirth out for the regular season with a lower-body injury. He's lost both of his starts against Washington this season, allowing eight goals.

Holtby has a 3.30 GAA in nine career starts in Philadelphia, but he helped the Capitals end a four-game losing streak there in a 5-2 win Nov. 12. His 33 saves keyed a 3-2 home victory Feb. 7 in the teams' last meeting.