Washington Capitals coach Barry Trotz isn’t going to pull a Gregg Popovich.
The Capitals already have clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for the best record in the NHL regular season and in theory don’t have much at stake in the final five games, including in Friday night’s meeting with the Avalanche at the Pepsi Center.
However, after the Capitals’ morning skate, Trotz — who has been on the record for weeks about his intention to not hold regulars out of games down the stretch — confirmed that the Capitals largely would be using their regular lineup against the Avalanche.
So, yes, Alex Ovechkin, the league’s leading goal-scorer with 44, will play.
Trotz did say, though, that center Nicklas Backstrom had suffered a minor injury against Philadelphia Wednesday night and would be scratched.
“He got banged up a little bit last game, so we’re going to keep him out just for precautionary reasons,” Trotz said.
That was genuine, since Backstrom only minimally participated in the skate.
Although the Capitals also play at Arizona Saturday, they will use their No. 1 goalie — Braden Holtby — against the Avalanche. With 46 wins, Holtby is two short of tying Martin Brodeur’s record for wins in a season.
Earlier, after going through the Avalanche skate, Matt Duchene confirmed he was good to go after missing six games with a knee injury and would play against the Washington Capitals Friday night at the Pepsi Center.
“I think you just get more polished as the days go by,” Duchene said. “If you’re out for a couple of weeks, even a couple of days, you feel some rust. I expect to feel a little rusty tonight at times, but it comes back quick.”
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said team doctors and trainers had cleared Duchene and repeated that Duchene would center Mikhail Grigorenko and Mikkel Boedker against the Capitals.
The Gabe Landeskog-Carl Soderberg-Blake Comeau line will remain intact. John Mitchell will center Shawn Matthias and Jarome Iginla. The fourth line will be between recently recalled Andrew Agozzino between Cody McLeod and Andreas Martinsen. Jack Skille is scheduled to be the healthy scratch among the forwards.
Roy again said there was no change in Nathan MacKinnon’s situation, and that the young center still hadn’t skated since suffering a knee injury March 18 at Calgary. Roy said he didn’t know whether that would change in the next few days. If that doesn’t, it’s unlikely that MacKinnon will play again in the regular season, which concludes April 9 against Anaheim at home.
“Good question,” Roy said. “I haven’t asked this morning if the plan is to have him skate soon. But last I heard, the answer is no.”
The Avalanche is five points behind Minnesota, which is sitting in the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Wild is at Detroit Friday night. Colorado has five games remaining, Minnesota four.
Terry Frei: tfrei@denverpost.com or @TFrei
