Game #28 Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes

Where: RBC Center, Raleigh, NC

When: December 7, 2008, 5:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 7-13-1-0
Caps Game 28 Record: 14-17-2-0
All-Time vs. CAR: 32-19-7-3
All-Time at CAR: 14-10-5-2
Last Season vs. CAR: 4-4-0
Last Meeting: 11/12/08, WAS 5 CAR 1

This Year:
WAS Record: 15-9-3
Standings Points: 33
Division Rank: 1st
Conference Rank: 3rd
Last Game: 12/6/08, WAS 2 TOR 1
Streak: Win 2

CAR Record: 12-12-3
Standings Points: 27
Division Rank: 2nd
Conference Rank: 9th
Last Game: 12/6/08, TOR 3 PHO 6
Streak: Loss 3

Season Series:
Game 1: 11/6/08, WAS 3 CAR 2
Game 2: 11/12/08, WAS 5 CAR 1

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 92 NYLANDER
Forward Line 2: 14 FLEISCHMANN, 20 AUCOIN, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 3: 21 LAICH, 15 GORDON, 16 FEHR
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 39 STECKEL, 10 BRADLEY
Defense Pair 1: 42 LEPISTO, 26 MORRISONN
Defense Pair 2: 89 SLOAN, 43 HELMER
Defense Pair 3: 23 JURCINA, 47 ALZNER
Goalie: 60 THEODORE
Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON

Carolina
Forward Line 1: 14 SAMSONOV, 12 STAAL, 24 WALKER
Forward Line 2: 15 RUUTU, 17 BRIND’AMOUR, 44 EAVES
Forward Line 3: 13 WHITNEY, 8 CULLEN, 38 CONBOY
Forward Line 4: 59 LAROSE, 16 SUTTER, 24 WILLIAMS
Defense Pair 1: 25 PITKANEN, 77 CORVO
Defense Pair 2: 5 KABERLE, 7 WALLIN
Defense Pair 3: 53 BORER, 33 BABCHUK
Goalie: 49 LEIGHTON
Back-up Goalie: 30 WARD

Injuries:
Washington – 2 POTHIER (concussion) IR, 91 FEDOROV (ankle) DTD, 28 SEMIN (upper body) IR, 52 GREEN (shoulder) IR, 55 SCHULTZ (broken finger) IR, 3 POTI (groin) DTD, 4 ERSKINE (undisclosed) DTD, 17 CLARK (forearm) IR, 89 SLOAN (foot) DTD, 16 FEHR (shoulder) DTD
Carolina – 4 SEIDENBERG (leg) IR, 30 WARD (groin) DTD, 6 GLEASON (leg) IR, 45 TANABE (concussion) IR

Caps Milestones:
Matt Bradley needs 1 point to reach 100 in his career.
Nicklas Backstrom needs 7 points to reach 100 in his career.
Chris Clark needs 4 penalty minutes to reach 600 in his career.
Shaone Morrisonn needs 4 penalty minutes to reach 300 in his career.

Preview:
This will be a tough game for the Caps. They played a game last night in Toronto and travel to Carolina to meet the Hurricanes in an early 5:00 game. The Caps may have also lost Eric Fehr who injured his shoulder against the Leafs. The Caps need to keep their energy up and stay out of the penalty box. The Canes recently replaced their head coach and will be looking to make a statement in tonight’s game. Look for a low scoring affair and hopefully the Caps can get out of this game with all their personnel intact.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 CAR 1

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