The Boston Bruins finish a two-game road trip against teams fighting for their Eastern Conference playoff lives when they visit the Washington Capitals on Monday night.
Boston (47-18-15, 109 points) maintained its place atop the Atlantic Division standings and kept its hopes of a second straight Presidents' Trophy alive on Saturday with a 6-4 win over the host Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pavel Zacha had a goal and an assist, Brad Marchand scored short-handed and David Pastrnak and Charlie Coyle each had two assists to lift the Bruins to a key fifth win in a six-game span.
For coach Jim Montgomery's club, though, keeping its game strong through to the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs next weekend is more important than the standings.
"We're fighting for first, but we're more worried about getting our game ready for the playoffs," Montgomery said. "We're worried about Game 1. Whether we're first or second -- it would be nice to be first, but that's not as paramount as our game being ready."
Pittsburgh was 7-0-3 in its previous 10 games but dropped out of the second and final wild-card spot in the East following the loss to Boston. That is now held by Washington (38-31-11, 87 points), which beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 on Saturday.
So, the stretch against desperate teams will continue in D.C.
"Obviously, (Pittsburgh is) fighting for their lives," Bruins forward Jake DeBrusk said. "We capitalized on our chances. Another good test for us. That's what we're going to be seeing coming up."
Last season's first-round exit proves that standing means little, but captain Brad Marchand knows what a strong finish would mean to this group of Bruins.
"It shows how well we've come together as a group," Marchand said of being in contention for No. 1. "There's been a lot of adversity that we had to go through and it speaks volumes that we've found ways to win and be competitive. ... We just kept grinding away and tried to get better."
Sonny Milano scored twice in the first period before John Carlson -- the No. 1 goal-scoring defenseman in team history -- and Nic Dowd converted in the third for the Capitals, who are inside the playoff cut line despite entering Saturday with a 1-4-1 record in April.
"Everything matters right now, every single moment," goaltender Charlie Lindgren said. "It's certainly something that none of us are taking for granted. We realize how fun this is playing in environments like these, and it's been an absolute blast. We've got two games left and obviously just lay it all out there."
The Capitals lost defenseman Nick Jensen following a hard hit from Tampa Bay's Michael Eyssimont in the first period. Jensen was taken off the ice on a stretcher but left the building on his own following the game.
"When you see someone like that stretchered off, you're thinking the worst-case situation, and he's doing better," Washington coach Spencer Carbery said. "He walked out of the building with his family tonight, didn't go to the hospital. So that was very, very positive."
Both teams conclude the regular season with a back-to-back. On Tuesday, Boston will return home to face the Ottawa Senators while Washington visits the Philadelphia Flyers, who are also tied for the East's last wild-card spot entering Monday.
"These next two games, this entire season comes down to our group being able to get to where we need to be and do it together," Dowd said.
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