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Monday Caps Clips: Centurion Holtby; Caps Clinch

Daily Washington Capitals news and notes: The Caps prevail in Detroit and are heading back to postseason play, Braden Holtby notches number 23/40/100, Tom Wilson takes a puck to the noggin and more.

By EmilyB

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Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Your savory breakfast links:

  • Caps clinch! Caps clinch! Caps clinch! [Rink, NHL.com (plus five reasons why), WaPo, CSNW, RMNB, DC Pro Sports Report]
  • Recaps and other assorted musings on yesterday's win from us, Vogs, Monumental video (Trotz, Holtby, Ovechkin, Niskanen, Green), NHL.com, AP, WaPo (gamer), CSNW, Peerless, DSP, RMNB, Stars and Sticks, and from the Detroit end of the ice, Winging It In Motown, Detroit Free Press, and Kukla's Korner.
    • Congratulations (and thank you!) to Braden Holtby, who made his (Caps team record) 23rd consecutive start and, with 35 saves, notched the 40th victory of his season and 100th of his career. [@CapsPR, and again]
      • "Good morning good afternoon and good night Detroit!" Relive Braden's brilliance with John Walton's call. [Capitals Voice]
      • From Elias: Braden Holtby became the second goaltender in Capitals history to record 40 or more wins in one season when he posted a 2-1 victory over the Red Wings in Detroit. The only other Washington netminder to notch that many victories in one season is Olaf Kolzig, who won 41 games in 1999-2000. Holtby's win on Sunday was also the 100th of his NHL career, and it came in his 176th game. That ties him with Corey Crawford for the third-fewest games that any active NHL goaltender has needed to reach the century mark in wins, behind Jimmy Howard (171 games) and Antti Niemi (174).
    • Tom Wilson's injury inspired his teammates to bear down and prevail. Get well soonest, Honest Abe Ten Train. [WaPo, SB Nation, RMNB]
    • Another casualty - Brooks Laich's formerly perfect grill. [RMNB]
    • Oh hai there, Andre Burakovsky. It's nice to see you in a Caps sweater again but don't mind us if we hope for Eric Fehr 's continuing good health. [WaPo, Patriot-News]
  • The Week That Was, Volume 26... [Peerless, ILWT (with the Metro lowdown)]
  • ... and Peerless has updated his wildcard tracker (pre-Caps clinch). [Peerless]
  • Prospect playoff updates:
    • Jakub Vrana may soon be headed to Hershey now that Linkoping has been eliminated in the second round of the SHL playoffs. In 11 games, Vrana went 4-1-5, minus-5 with 27 shots on goal. [SHL]
    • Brian Pinho and the Providence Friars will face Nebraska-Omaha in the Frozen Four semifinals on Thursday, April 9. The winner of that game will face the winner of Boston U/North Dakota for the title. [Boston Herald]
    • Madison Bowey and the Kelowna Rockets survived an exciting Game 4 to eliminate the Tri-City Americans and advance to the Dub's second round. They will face the Victoria Royals in a series that begins Friday. [WHL]
    • Tyler Lewington and the Medicine Hat Tigers needed one extra game vs. Red Deer to advance to the second round. They await the winner of tonight's Game 7 between the Kootenay Ice and (former Hershey head coach Mark French's) Calgary Hitmen. [Calgary Herald]
  • A couple of additional noteworthy milestones - Caps rookie beat writer extraordinaire Alex Prewitt logged his 30th NHL arena in Motor City, and referee Paul Devorski shook hands with the Pens and Flyerz and called it a career.
  • Finally, happy 36th birthday to Matt Yeats (Yahtzee!), happy 44th to Trevor Halverson, and happy 45th birthday to Coach Kolzig.
  • One More: