Game #11 Washington Capitals at Toronto Maple Leafs

Where: Air Canada Center Center, Toronto, Ontario

When: October 29, 2007, 7:30 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 6-9-1-0
Caps Game 11 Record: 9-18-5-0
All-Time vs. TOR: 49-45-10-2
Last Season vs. TOR: 2-2-0
Last Meeting: 3/16/07, WAS 5 TOR 1

This Year:
WAS Record: 4-5-0
Standings Points: 8
Division Rank: Tied 3^rd
Conference Rank: Tied 11^th
Last Game: 10/27/2007, WAS 3 STL 4
Streak: Loss 2

TOR Record: 5-4-3
Standings Points: 13
Division Rank: 3^rd
Conference Rank: 5^th
Last Game: 10/27/2007, TOR 4 NYR 1
Streak: Win 2

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 KOZLOV,
Forward Line 2: 43 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 21 LAICH
Forward Line 3: 18 PETTINGER, 39 STECKEL, 15 GORDON
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 16 SUTHERBY, 10 BRADLEY
Defense Pair 1: 26 MORRISONN, 23 JURCINA
Defense Pair 2: 2 POTHIER, 55 SCHULTZ
Defense Pair 3: 52 GREEN, 4 ERSKINE
Goalie: 37 KOLZIG
Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON

Toronto
Forward Line 1: 23 PONIKAROVSKY, 13 SUDIN, 55 BLAKE
Forward Line 2: 41 TLUSTY, 14 STAJAN, 10 STEEN
Forward Line 3: 18 KILGER, 80 ANTROPOV, 22 DEVEREAU
Forward Line 4: 33 BATTAGLIA, 21 POHL, 39 GAMACHE
Defense Pair 1: 15 KABERLE, 31 KUBINA
Defense Pair 2: 25 GILL, 56 WOZNIEWSKI
Defense Pair 3: 7 WHITE, 36 STRALMAN
Goalie: 1 RAYCROFT
Back-up Goalie: 35 TOSKALA

Injuries:
Washington – 14 FEHR (hip) IR, 44 EMINGER (ankle) IR, 17 CLARK (face), 28 SEMIN (ankle), 3 POTI (groin)
Toronto – 24 MCCABE (groin) DTD, 8 COLAIACOVO (knee) IR, 16 TUCKER (knee) IR, 42 WELLWOOD (sports hernia) IR, 9 BELL (suspended)

Caps Milestones:
Alexander Semin needs 4 Points to reach 100 for his career
Chris Clark needs 3 Points to reach 100 with the Capitals
Matt Pettinger needs 7 Points to reach 100 for his career

Preview:

The Capitals have lost two one-goal games in a row. They will try to pull it together tonight against the Maple Leafs. The Caps have let in early goals in both of the losses and have had to play come from behind hockey. Each game also featured the Caps scoring a goal with the netminder pulled. Olie Kolzig will start in goal for the Caps. The special teams will again be a big part of this game. The power plays are pretty even with Toronto at 13% and ranked 24^th while the Caps are at 14% and ranked 22^nd. The penalty kill is a bit misleading with Toronto ranked 17^th at 80.0% and the Caps ranked 23^rd at 78.8% but Toronto has had to kill 75 penalties to Washington’s 52. This may be a high flying affair with a lot of goals so look for the Caps to try and get on the board first. Hopefully they took notes on that so called football game yesterday, get the lead early and score often and don’t give your opponent any hope.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 6 TOR 4.

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