Game #14 Tampa Bay Lightning at Washington Capitals

Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When: November 10, 2008, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 5-8-1-0
Caps Game 14 Record: 14-15-4-0
All-Time vs. TAM: 48-24-6-4
All-Time Home vs. TAM: 25-10-4-2
Last Season vs. TAM: 6-2-0
Last Meeting: 4/3/08, WAS 4 TAM 1

This Year:
WAS Record: 7-4-2
Standings Points: 16
Division Rank: 2nd
Conference Rank: 8th
Last Game: 11/8/08, WAS 3 NYR 1
Streak: Win 2

TAM Record: 5-4-4
Standings Points: 14
Division Rank: 3rd
Conference Rank: 10th
Last Game: 11/8/08, TAM 2 PHI 1
Streak: Win 1

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 28 SEMIN
Forward Line 2: 14 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 3: 21 LAICH, 39 STECKEL, 16 FEHR
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 15 GORDON, 10 BRADLEY
Defense Pair 1: 55 SCHULTZ, 52 GREEN
Defense Pair 2: 89 SLOAN, 3 POTI
Defense Pair 3: 23 JURCINA, 4 ERSKINE
Goalie: 1 JOHNSON
Back-up Goalie: 60 THEODORE

Tampa
Forward Line 1: 20 PROSPAL, 4 LECAVALIER, 26 ST. LOUIS
Forward Line 2: 10 ROBERTS, 36 JOKINEN, 8 RECCHI
Forward Line 3: 12 MALONE, 91 STAMKOS, 17 VRBATA
Forward Line 4: 34 CRAIG, 77 GRATTON, 18 HALL
Defense Pair 1: 39 LUNDIN, 54 RANGER
Defense Pair 2: 14 MESZAROS, 22 MALIK
Defense Pair 3: 2 KRAJICEK, 44 EMINGER
Goalie: 37 KOLZIG
Back-up Goalie: 41 SMITH

Injuries:
Washington – 2 POTHIER (concussion) IR, 26 MORRISONN (groin) DTD, 91 FEDOROV (undisclosed) DTD, 17 CLARK (undisclosed) DTD
Tampa – 11 HALPERN (knee) IR

Caps Milestones:
Victor Kozlov needs 1 point to reach 500 in his career.
Matt Bradley needs 4 points to reach 100 in his career.
Donald Brashear needs 4 penalty minutes to become the 42nd Cap to reach 300 with the team.

Preview:
Tonight marks the return of former Capitals goalie Olie Kolzig to the Verizon Center. Kolzig played in 711 games over 18 years for the Caps and holds every major record for goal tending in the Capital’s record book. Following last season’s acquisition of Cristobal Huet by the Caps, Kolzig was relegated to a backup role and signed with Tampa during free agency this past July. Tampa has three other former Capitals on their roster: former captain Jeff Halper, Matt Pettinger, and newly acquired Steve Eminger. We wish them all well but hope they end up on the short end of the score. The Caps are coming off of a victory over the Rangers where the team dug in and got a lead early and limited the Rangers chances. Good goal tending by Brent Johnson will probably earn him another start tonight. Look for this game to be very physical and up tempo. Alexander Semin continued his hot steak with two more points in Saturday’s game. In his career against Tampa he has 12 goals and 20 points in 19 games. Watch for a big night for the first line of Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin as the three have combined for 50 points lifetime against the Bolts. This should be a big night for the Caps and I think they will score early and often.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 5 TAM 1

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