Where: Air Canada Center, Toronto, Ontario
When: January 23, 2008, 7:30 PM
History:
Caps Record on this Date: 7-7-1-0
Caps Game 49 Record: 16-14-1-0
All-Time vs. TOR: 50-45-10-2
Last Season vs. TOR: 2-2-0
Last Meeting: 10/29/07, WAS 7 TOR 1
This Year:
WAS Record: 22-21-5
Standings Points: 49
Division Rank: 2nd
Conference Rank: 10th
Last Game: 1/21/2008, WAS 6 PIT 5 (OT-SO)
Streak: Won 4
TOR Record: 19-22-8
Standings Points:
Division Rank: 5th
Conference Rank: 5th
Last Game: 1/20/2008, TOR 2 NJ 3
Streak: Loss 1
Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 2: 28 SEMIN, 15 GORDON, 43 FLEISCHMANN
Forward Line 3: 53 LAING, 39 STECKEL, 10 BRADLEY
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 21 LAICH, 18 PETTINGER
Defense Pair 1: 26 MORRISONN, 52 GREEN
Defense Pair 2: 23 JURCINA, 55 SCHULTZ
Defense Pair 3: 4 ERSKINE, 3 POTI
Goalie: 37 KOLZIG
Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON
Forward Line 1: 55 BLAKE, 13 SUDIN, 16 TUCKER
Forward Line 2: 23 PONIKAROVSKY, 80 ANTROPOV, 3 BELAK
Forward Line 3: 10 STEEN, 14 STAJAN, 22 DEVEREAUX
Forward Line 4: 18 KILGER, 42 WELLWOOD, 41 TLUSTY
Defense Pair 1: 15 KABERLE, 7 WHITE
Defense Pair 2: 25 GILL, 31 KUBINA
Defense Pair 3: 56 WOZNIEWSKI, 36 STRALMAN
Goalie: 35 TOSKALA
Back-up Goalie: 1 RAYCROFT
Injuries:
Washington – 14 FEHR (hip) IR, 92 NYLANDER (shoulder) IR, 17 CLARK (groin) DTD, 2 POTHIER (head) IR, 26 MORRISONN (leg) DTD
Toronto – 8 COLAIACOVO (knee) IR, 9 BELL (cracked orbital bone) IR, 24 MCCABE (hand fracture) IR
Caps Milestones:
Matt Pettinger needs 2 Points to reach 100 for his career
Matt Pettinger needs 4 SOG to reach 500 for his career
Donald Brashear needs 2 Points to reach 200 for his career
Donald Brashear needs 7 PIM’s to reach 2,400 for his career
Chris Clark needs 1 SOG to reach 800 for his career
Boyd Gordon needs 2 SOG to reach 200 for his career
Viktor Kozlov needs 5 assists to reach 300 for his career
The Caps start a two day home and home series in Toronto tonight against the struggling Maple Leafs. The Caps are fresh off of their exciting shootout victory at Pittsburgh two days ago where the Caps were able to climb 1-game over .500 and move into 2nd place in the Southeast Division. The last time these two teams met they were headed in opposite directions but the Caps put a 7 spot on the Leafs. This will be the Cap’s 6th game in 12 days and they have gone 5-1-0 in those games and have a 4-game winning streak. The team has definitely made a turnaround even without the likes of Chris Clark, Michal Nylander, Brian Pothier, and last night Shaone Morrisonn. The Caps young gunners have been getting it done on offense with Alex Ovechkin leading the way with an NHL leading 38 goals. Nicklas Backstrom has been unbelievable with two consecutive 4-assist nights, and Alexander Semin is on a 5-game point streak and had Monday’s shootout game winner. Look for the Caps to continue their offensive assault as the defense is trying to heal. It’s been rough going for the goalies but as they say, “Winning is the ultimate cure all.”
Joe’s prediction: Caps 5 TOR 3
No comments:
Post a Comment