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Monday, October 8, 2007

Game #3 Washington Capitals at New York Islanders

Where: Nassau Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, NY

When: October 8, 2007, 2:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 3-6-0-0
Caps Game 3 Record: 9-16-6-1
All-Time vs. NYI: 79-78-13-0
Last Season vs. CAR: 1-3-0
Last Meeting: 3/10/07, WAS 2 NYI 5

This Year:
WAS Record: 2-0-0
Standings Points: 4
Division Rank: Tied 1st
Conference Rank: Tied 2nd
Last Game: 10/6/2007, WAS 2 CAR 0
Streak: Win 2

NYI Record: 2-0-0
Standings Points: 4
Division Rank: 1st
Conference Rank: Tied 2nd
Last Game: 10/5/2007, NYI 3 BUF 2
Streak: Win 2

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 Ovechkin, 25 Kozlov, 43 Fleischmann
Forward Line 2: 19 Backstrom, 92 Nylander, 17 Clark
Forward Line 3: 18 Pettinger, 15 B.Gordon, 10 Bradley
Forward Line 4: 87 Brashear, 39 Steckel, 21 Laich
Defense Pair 1: 3 Poti, 23 Jurcina
Defense Pair 2: 2 Pothier, 26 Morrisonn
Defense Pair 3: 4 Erskine, 52 Green
Goalie: 37 Kolzig
Back-up Goalie: 1 Johnson

Carolina
Forward Line 1: 26 Fedotenko, 18 Sillinger, 13 Guerin
Forward Line 2: 16 Sim, 89 Comrie, 81 Satan
Forward Line 3: 11 Hilbert, 63 Vasicek, 7 Hunter
Forward Line 4: 20 Bergenheim, 10 Park, Bootland
Defense Pair 1: 24 Martinek, 47 Bergeron
Defense Pair 2: 32 Witt, 25 Sutton
Defense Pair 3: 8 Gervais, 14 Campoli
Goalie: 39 DiPietro
Back-up Goalie: 34 Dubielewicz

Injuries:
Washington – 14 Fehr (hip), 28 Semin (Ankle), 44 Eminger (Ankle)
Alexander Semin did not play much in the third period vs. Carolina. He is still suffering the effects of a sprained ankle from preseason action. He is listed as day to day.

Islanders – 17 Bates (abdomin), 16 Sim (knee),12 Simon (suspended)

Caps Milestones:
Last game Alex Ovechkin scored his 200th career point with the game winning goal vs. Carolina.
Alex Ovechkin needs 1 Goal to reach 100 for his career
Alexander Semin needs 4 Points to reach 100 for his career
Chris Clark needs 7 Points to reach 100 with the Capitals
Matt Pettinger needs 8 Points to reach 100 for his career

Preview:

The Capitals head to Long Island, New York to play the Islanders on Monday afternoon. This will be the Caps third game in four days. They will attempt to keep the momentum going forward after two impressive wins over Atlanta on Friday and Carolina on Saturday. The Caps have been especially good controlling the pace of the games with excellent puck control. The pace has been extremely high and the opponents have been chasing the Caps for much of the time. The Caps have a 73 to 56 advantage in shots on goal. Special teams play has been very good so far, they are 2 for 11 on the power play and 8 for 8 in penalty killing. Both Viktor Kozlov and Tom Poti will play their first game vs. their former team since coming to the Caps as free agents this summer. Like the Caps the Islanders went through a major personnel transition this summer. They lost not only Kozlov and Poti but Sean Hill, Richard Zednik, Jason Blake, and Ryan Smith as well. New company includes Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie, and Andy Sutton. The Islanders have started the season well winning their first two games behind the goal scoring of Comrie, who has 4 goals in 2 games. Look for the Caps to continue to put the pressure on the Islanders and control the pace of the game. They need to put a lot of heat on goaltender Rick DiPietro and make him work hard.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 4 NYI 1.

Official Preview

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