Game #43 Washington Capitals vs. Colorado Avalanche

Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When: January 9, 2008, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 10-4-0-0
Caps Game 43 Record: 13-14-5-0
All-Time vs. COL: 7-6-2-1
Last Season vs. COL: 1-0-0
Last Meeting: 10/25/06, WAS 5 COL 3

This Year:
WAS Record: 17-20-5
Standings Points: 39
Division Rank: 4^th
Conference Rank: 14^th
Last Game: 1/5/2008, WAS 5 MON 4 (OT)
Streak: Won 1

COL Record: 22-16-3
Standings Points: 47
Division Rank: 4^th
Conference Rank: 8^th
Last Game: 1/8/2008, COL 0 DET 1
Streak: Loss 1

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 2: 43 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 28 SEMIN
Forward Line 3: 53 LAING, 39 STECKEL, 15 GORDON
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 21 LAICH, 10 BRADLEY
Defense Pair 1: 26 MORRISONN, 52 GREEN
Defense Pair 2: 23 JURCINA, 55 SCHULTZ
Defense Pair 3: 4 ERSKINE, 44 EMINGER
Goalie: 37 KOLZIG
Back-up Goalie: 35 CASSIVI

Colorado
Forward Line 1: 8 WOLSKI, 26 STASTNY, 23 HEJDUK
Forward Line 2: 17 HLINKA, 11 MCCORMICK, 14 LAPERRIERE
Forward Line 3: 15 BRUNETTE, 37 HENSICK, 28 GUITE
Forward Line 4: 55 MCLEOD, 27 PARKER, 40 SVATOS
Defense Pair 1: 22 HANNAN, 3 SKRASTINS
Defense Pair 2: 4 LILES, 5 CLARK
Defense Pair 3: 6 FINGER, 44 LEOPOLD
Goalie: 31 BUDAJ
Back-up Goalie: 60 THEODORE

Injuries:
Washington – 14 FEHR (hip) IR, 17 CLARK (groin) IR, 1 JOHNSON (knee) IR, 3 POTI (upper body) DTD, 2 POTHIER (head) DTD
Colorado – 11 MCCOMICK (hip) DTD, 94 SMYTH (ankle fracture) IR, 39 ARNASON (wrist) IR, 34 SAUER (neck) IR, 19 SAKIC (hernia)

Caps Milestones:
Matt Pettinger needs 3 Points to reach 100 for his career
Alexander Semin needs 5 Shots on Goal to reach 400 for his career
Michal Nylander needs 1 Goal to reach 200 for his career
Donald Brashear needs 3 Points to reach 200 for his career

Preview:
The Capitals start a long home stand with the Colorado Avalanche who are coming off of a 1-0 defeat at Detroit. The Caps need to continue their aggressive play and force the attack on the Avs who like the Caps have suffered numerous injuries as of late. Look for the Caps fist line to garner a lot of attention from the visitors as Alex Ovechkin is on one of his point binges with 14 points in his last 9 games. The other lines will have to contribute to take give #8 some running room. This one should be close, but the Caps should pull it out.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 4 COL 2

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