Game #4 Washington Capitals at New York Rangers

Where: Madison Square Garden, New York, NY

When: October 12, 2007, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 3-8-0-1
Caps Game 3 Record: 16-15-0-1
All-Time vs. NYR: 80-72-18-4
Last Season vs. NYR: 1-3-0
Last Meeting: 2/10/07, WAS 2 NYI 5

This Year:
WAS Record: 3-0-0
Standings Points: 6
Division Rank: Tied 1^st
Conference Rank: Tied 2^nd
Last Game: 10/8/2007, WAS 2 NYI 1
Streak: Win 3

NYR Record: 1-2-0
Standings Points: 2
Division Rank: Tied 3^rd
Conference Rank: Tied 9^th
Last Game: 10/10/2007, NYR 1 NYI 2
Streak: Loss 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

Rangers
Forward Line 1: 82 Straka, 23 Drury, 68 Jagr
Forward Line 2: 81 Hossa, 19 Gomez, 14 Shanahan
Forward Line 3: 25 Prucha, 17 Dubinsky, 24 Callahan
Forward Line 4: 44 Hollwig, 15 Betts, 28 Orr
Defense Pair 1: 3 Rozsival, 27 Mara
Defense Pair 2: 51 Tyutin, 5 Girardi
Defense Pair 3: 8 Malik, 18 Staal
Goalie: 30 Lundqvist
Back-up Goalie: 40 Valiquette

Injuries:
Washington – 14 Fehr (hip), 28 Semin (Ankle), 44 Eminger (Ankle)
Rangers – 16 Avery (shoulder), Barnes (undisclosed)

Caps Milestones:
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 take their undefeated record to New York to face the Rangers. The Capitals have been playing an up tempo puck possession style of hockey. Expect them to go right at the heart of the Rangers defense. Alexander Semin is not expected to play and Head Coach Glen Hanlon may move Michal Nylander up to the first power play unit. The Rangers are coming off losses to Ottawa and rival Islanders. Olie Kolzig is expected to start in goal on Friday and Brent Johnson will face Buffalo on Saturday. The Rangers are still assimilating this summer’s free agent cache into their lineup. The chemistry just hasn’t been there yet and I think the Caps will exploit this weakness.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 4 NYR 1.