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WASHINGTON (AP) Nashville Predators players stood around the locker room after beating the Washington Capitals 4-3 http://www.officialducks.com/authentic-adidas-john-gibson-jersey , huddled around cellphones watching and rooting for more franchise history.Seconds after the Boston Bruins lost to the Florida Panthers in regulation on Thursday night, Mattias Ekholm yelled out, ”Yeah boys!” as teammates high-fived to celebrate the first Presidents’ Trophy in the team’s 19-year history.A year after the Predators made an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Final as the eighth seed in the Western Conference, they’ve clinched home ice throughout the playoffs as the top team in the NHL during the regular season.The road to the Cup now runs through Nashville.”It’s a pretty good night for us,” captain Roman Josi said. ”Obviously the big goal for every team is to win the Stanley Cup, but you can’t win the Stanley Cup right now. It was something we took a lot of pride in, and I think it’s a big accomplishment for us.”Josi, who scored a power-play goal in the clincher, said he and fellow Predators players looked at the rafters of other buildings this season and wanted to earn more than just the one ”Western Conference Champions 2016-17” banner that currently hangs in Bridgestone Arena.They accomplished that in Washington thanks to two goals from Craig Smith, a game-winner from Ryan Johansen and 29 saves from backup goaltender Juuse Saros, setting a franchise record with 52 wins in the process.”It’s always just been about home ice and trying to stay in our building, give ourselves the best chance to be successful in the playoffs,” coach Peter Laviolette said. ”With that, those things happen. You end up winning a division, a conference and first place in the league.”David Poile, who has been general manager since the franchise’s inception, shook hands and congratulated each player as he walked out of the locker room.While Laviolette and his staff watched the end of the Bruins-Panthers game in the coaches’ office and players took it in on hockey operations manager Brandon Walker’s phone Authentic Josh Manson Jersey , Poile watched alone from the concourse on one of the prouder nights in Predators history.”We all have goals. That was part of it,” Poile said. ”It feels real good. When we get to a week from now and we start the playoffs, we’ll be moving on to something else, but I’m very proud of our franchise. This is the first time we’ve done it and it means a lot and I’m proud of everybody, all the effort that was put in all year.”It was almost poetic that the Predators won the Presidents’ Trophy by beating the Capitals, who won it the past two seasons and three times since 2010.Days after the five-year anniversary of his now-infamous trade from Washington to Nashville, star winger Filip Forsberg remarked: ”We’ve seen especially here (in Washington) that the trophy doesn’t mean that much going forward. But I think just the home ice is going to be huge.”The Metropolitan Division-champion Capitals, who have home ice through at least the first two rounds, got two goals from Evgeny Kuznetsov, Alex Ovechkin’s league-leading 47th of the season and 25 saves from Philipp Grubauer in the loss.Washington could still face New Jersey, Philadelphia, Columbus or back-to-back defending Cup-champion Pittsburgh in the first round.”I like the way we’re playing,” said coach Barry Trotz, who was in Nashville for that franchise’s first 15 seasons and has Washington in the playoffs for the fourth time in four years. ”We’re playing with lots of speed, we’re playing with lots of pace, and that was a good test.”The Predators know there are more tests upcoming, this time as the Cup favorite that won’t fly under the radar. But after going 9-2 at home on their run to the final a year ago Ondrej Kase Jersey , they assured themselves of more playoff hockey in Music City than on the road.”We learned what it was like to play at home in the playoffs,” defenseman Ryan Ellis said. ”To have the home ice is huge for our team.”NOTES: Smith’s two goals gave him a career-high 25. … Johansen scored the go-ahead goal with 5:27 left. … Kuznetsov has seven goals and 11 assists in his past 10 games. … Capitals F Alex Chiasson left the game with an illness. … Ovechkin was honored before the game for playing in 1,000 NHL regular-season games. In addition to the traditional silver stick and Tiffany crystal from the team and league, Ovechkin’s teammates got him and his wife a trip to Spain, presidential suite tickets to see FC Barcelona and a Lionel Messi jersey. … Rookie Eeli Tolvanen was a healthy scratch for the Predators after playing three games in a row.UP NEXTPredators: Return home after three-game road trip to face the Columbus Blue Jackets in each team’s season finale Saturday.Capitals: Host the New Jersey Devils on Saturday in a potential playoff preview.— Bruce Cassidy watched from afar as Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stoned Travis Zajac on a breakaway and knew that was the kind of save teams need in the playoffs.One night later, the Boston coach saw up close how Tuukka Rask got his blocker on Mitch Marner’s breakaway attempt on the way to another Bruins victory.”Every team needs goaltending,” Cassidy said. ”On the road, you’re going to need a little extra at some point. We got it.”The Bruins aren’t the only team getting great goaltending at crucial moments as the first round wraps up. While Rask has them up 3-1 on Toronto, Vasilevskiy is the biggest reason Tampa Bay has the New Jersey Devils on the brink of elimination and Braden Holtby has stabilized the Washington Capitals to tie their series against Columbus going into Game 5 Saturday (3 p.m. EDT, NBC/NBCSN).After a high-scoring start to the Stanley Cup playoffs, netminders are making spectacular saves when called upon. A lot of the routine stops, too. Even though postseason scoring is up 7 percent from last year, Vegas’ Marc-Andre Fleury and San Jose’s Martin Jones combined to allow just seven goals in eight games – two four-game sweeps – to set up a second-round showdown. Rask and Vaslievskiy have each given up just nine through five games and Holtby has stopped 63 of 67 shots since replacing Philipp Grubauer in goal.”Your job obviously every game as a goaltender is to limit bad goals,” Holtby said Friday. ”Your goalie’s there to calm things down at the right minutes – make a big save here and there.”Big saves are a bigger deal this time of year than volume, considering how many harmless shots are flicked at the net from long range. Sometimes those go in, like when Boston’s Torrey Krug floated a weak shot past Frederik Andersen in Game 4 Thursday night.Few of those have happened in these playoffs against Rask, Holtby and Vasilevskiy Rickard Rakell Jersey , a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, the NHL’s top goalie award. Rask’s 2.27 goals-against average and .926 save percentage are indicative of just how solid he has been in giving the Bruins a chance to close out the Maple Leafs on Saturday (8 p.m. EDT, NBC).”He’s one of the best goalies in the world and gives us an opportunity to win every night,” Bruins winger Brad Marchand said of Rask, who won the Vezina in 2014.Rask might be salty that he wasn’t one of the three Vezina finalists, finishing behind Nashville’s Pekka Rinne, Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck and Vasilevskiy, who get a postseason trip to the awards show in Las Vegas. Vasilevskiy earned it with a strong first half of the season, struggled late and is back in form with Atlantic Division-champion Tampa Bay able advance with a win Saturday (3 p.m. EDT, NBC/NBCSN).Lightning coach Jon Cooper doesn’t think Vasilevskiy played poorly in the final quarter of the regular season as much as his team’s defensive game sagged. That has changed against the Devils, though Vasilevskiy has bailed out Tampa Bay on a few occasions.”When your team’s playing better defense it helps your goaltender out and he doesn’t have to make as many highlight-reel saves,” Cooper said. ”I think what you’re seeing in the playoffs is a group that’s been determined to play both ends of the ice, and in turn that’s helping Vasilevskiy out.”Game 4 Thursday was Holtby’s first time allowing fewer than two goals in a start since Nov. 18. But the 2016 Vezina winner insists he doesn’t feel any different than before his time off to reset his game in March.He just looks like his old self.”I think it’s got him to a place where he feels like Braden Holtby again, like he trusts his game, he trusts what he’s put in,” coach Barry Trotz said. ”He’s focused on the right things and it’s allowed him to get to a place where I think he feels very comfortable.”STEPPING UPWhen Bruins star Patrice Bergeron’s streak of 104 consecutive playoff games ended because of an undisclosed injury, unheralded Riley Nash excelled centering the top line of Marchand and David Pastrnak in Game 4 in Toronto.”He plays a two-way game Womens Ryan Getzlaf Jersey ,” Bruins center David Krejci said. ”He’s got good skills as well, so he fit well on that line.”Cassidy said a decision on Bergeron playing in Game 5 won’t come until Saturday. Toronto center Nazem Kadri will return from a three-game suspension for boarding Tommy Wingels.Lightning winger Ryan Callahan is a game-time decision against the Devils, who are likely to be without top defenseman Sami Vatanen.Columbus center Alexander Wennberg skated Friday and could return after missing three games after a hit to the head from Tom Wilson. Washington won’t have winger Andre Burakovsky for the rest of the series because of an upper-body injury that Trotz said requires ”minor” surgery.Without Burakovsky, Chandler Stephenson earned the promotion to the Capitals’ top line and has thrived with significant ice time alongside Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie.”It’s something you only dream of,” Stephenson said. ”Growing up watching them and then finally playing with them, it’s quite the special feeling.”CLOSE THE DEALGoing through a grueling run to the 2015 Cup Final taught Cooper a lesson about the benefits of finishing a team off in elimination games. The same goes for the banged-up Bruins because they’re on a crash course to face the Lightning in the second round.”If you have a chance to win a series early, do it,” Cooper said. ”Just to get the mental and physical rest, and then (have) all the other series go deep.”—AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen in Boston, Mitch Stacy in Columbus, Ohio, and Fred Goodall in Tampa, Florida, contributed.