Tomorrow night the Washington Capitals’ season comes to a merciful and optimistic end. Continuing to excel in meaningless situations, the Caps have climbed all the way back up to 26th place. If the season ended today, they’d be one spot outside of lottery contention for the first overall draft pick. Winning two straight games and three of their last four home games, the Capitals have shown great commitment to their team and given fans hope for next season.

Tomorrow’s game against Buffalo will be a tough contest. The Capitals’ young defensemen will try to make lasting impressions for summer contract negotiations, playing against one of the league’s best offenses. Alexander Ovechkin will try to score four goals and break fifty for the year. Even more than usual, Ovechkin will be a marked man, playing against a team that has hated him ever since his dirty hit on Daniel Briere. He will also, of course, face former linemate, friend and translator Dainius Zubrus.

After the game, the excellent fanblog Japers’ Rink will sponsor a party at Clyde’s. There will be an open bar for the first hour of the party for those who wish to frontload, and this will be followed by an auction featuring autographed stuff.

The Capitals are also wrapping up their Fan Appreciation Week. One highlight of that is tonight’s Alumni Game at the Caps’ shiny new practice rink above the Ballston Mall parking lot. The game will feature many great former Capitals, but the latest word is that Peter Bondra will not be in attendance. The highest scoring player in franchise history is apparently busy with some sort of unspecified personal business in the midwest.