Game #80 Preview: Washington Capitals at Toronto Maple Leafs

Where: Air Canada Centre, Toronto Ontario

When:  April 5, 2011, 7:00 PM

History:           

Caps Record on this Date: 8-2-3-1

Caps Game 80 Record: 21-10-3-0

All-Time vs. TOR: 57-49-10-5

All-Time at TOR: 21-28-6-3

Last Season vs. TOR: 2-1-1

Last Meeting: 1/22/11, WAS 4 TOR 1

Season Series: 2-0-1

This Year:

WAS Record: 46-22-11

Standings Points: 103

Division Rank: 1st

Conference Rank: 2nd

Last Game: 3/29/11, WAS 5 BUF 4 (OT)

Streak: Win 2

BUF Record: 37-32-10

Standings Points: 84

Division Rank: 4th

Conference Rank: 10th    

Last Game: 4/2/11, TOR 4 OTT 2

Streak: Win 3

Probable Line-Ups:     

Washington

Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 22 KNUBLE

Forward Line 2: 18 STURM, 44 ARNOTT, 28 SEMIN

Forward Line 3: 21 LAICH, 90 JOHANSSON, 25 CHIMERA

Forward Line 4: 26 HENDRICKS, 15 GORDON, 10 BRADLEY

Defense Pair 1: 55 SCHULTZ, 23 HANNAN

Defense Pair 2: 27 ALZNER, 74 CARLSON

Defense Pair 3: 89 SLOAN, 62 SLOAN

Goalie: 30 NEUVIRTH

Back-up Goalie: 1 VARLAMOV

Toronto

Forward Line 1: 81 KESSEL, 84 GRABOVSKI, 41 KULEMIN

Forward Line 2: 16 MACARTHUR, 42 BOZAK, 19 LUPUL

Forward Line 3: 43 KADRI, 47 BOYCE, 46 CRABB

Forward Line 4: 18 BROWN, 37 BRENT, 38 ROSEHILL

Defense Pair 1: 3 PHANEUF, 59 AULIE

Defense Pair 2: 2 SCHENN, 36 GUNNARSSON

Defense Pair 3: 8 KOMISAREK, 29 LASHOFF

Goalie: 34 REIMER

Back-up Goalie: 35 GIGUERE

Injuries:

Washington – 3 POTI (upper body) IR, (upper body) IR, 52 GREEN (head) IR, 6 WIDEMAN (lower body) DTD, 4 ERSKINE (undisclosed) DTD

TOR – ORR (concussion) IR, ARMSTRONG (broken foot) IR

Caps Milestones:

Jason Chimera needs 3 goals to reach 100 in his career.

Alex Ovechkin needs 1 goal to reach 300 in his career.

Preview:

The Capitals, with a severely banged up defense corps, head to the Air Canada Centre to face the Toronto Maple Leafs who are still fighting for a spot in the playoffs. The Leafs currently sit in the tenth position six points back of the eighth place Buffalo Sabres with 3 games remaining. A Washington win in regulation would mathematically eliminate Toronto. Washington will be looking to shore up its defensive game as the Caps have been losing defensemen as well as giving up goals in the third period in each of the last three games. They were able to pull out two overtime wins but in the other game they fell in the shootout. I would expect another good outing from Alex Ovechkin who appears ready to go after coming off the injured list last week. He scored a hat trick last time out against the Leafs and has 22 goals in 22 lifetime games against Toronto. I expect this will be another spirited affair between the two teams but I think the Leafs will be overwhelmed in the end.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 5 TOR 2

Official Preview