Game #22 Atlanta Thrashers at Washington Capitals

Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When: November 26, 2008, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 4-5-4-1
Caps Game 22 Record: 14-14-4-1
All-Time vs. ATL: 24-17-5-5
All-Time Home vs. ATL: 14-7-3-1
Last Season vs. ATL: 3-3-2
Last Meeting: 10/5/08, WAS 4 ATL 7

This Year:
WAS Record: 11-7-3
Standings Points: 25
Division Rank: 1st
Conference Rank: 3rd
Last Game: 11/24/08, WAS 3 MIN 4
Streak: Loss 3

ATL Record: 7-10-2
Standings Points: 16
Division Rank: 5th
Conference Rank: 15th
Last Game: 11/25/08, ATL 6 TOR 3
Streak: Win 1

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 2: 14 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 17 CLARK
Forward Line 3: 21 LAICH, 39 STECKEL, 16 FEHR
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 15 GORDON, 10 BRADLEY
Defense Pair 1: 42 LEPISTO, 26 MORRISONN
Defense Pair 2: 89 SLOAN, 3 POTI
Defense Pair 3: 23 JURCINA, 4 ERSKINE
Goalie: 60 THEODORE
Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON

Atlanta
Forward Line 1: 17 KOVALCHUK, 10 LITTLE, 14 WILLIAMS
Forward Line 2: 13 KOZLOV, 12 WHITE, 20 ARMSTRONG
Forward Line 3: 36 BOULTON, 9 CHRISTENSEN, 27 THORBURN
Forward Line 4: 11 PERRIN, 19 REASONER, 42 CRABB
Defense Pair 1: 39 ENSTROM, 18 SCHNEIDER
Defense Pair 2: 28 HAVELID, 6 HAINSEY
Defense Pair 3: 2 EXELBY, 7 OYSTRICK
Goalie: 1 HEDBERG
Back-up Goalie: 31 PAVELEC

Injuries:
Washington – 2 POTHIER (concussion) IR, 91 FEDOROV (ankle) DTD, 28 SEMIN (upper body) DTD, 52 GREEN (shoulder) DTD, 55 SCHULTZ (broken finger), 15 GORDON (back) DTD, 4 ERSKINE (undisclosed) DTD
Atlanta – 4 BOGOSIAN (broken leg) IR, 32 LEHTONEN (back) IR

Caps Milestones:
Matt Bradley needs 1 point 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:
The Capitals return home for first time in 5 games to face the Atlanta Thrashers. The Caps are really banged up and lost defenseman Jeff Schultz to a broken finger in their last outing. Schultz is going to be placed on the LTIR list to make some salary cap room for a replacement. Nothing has been officially disclosed but my guess is that Sami Lepisto will be brought up from Hershey. Lepisto has appeared in 20 games for the Bears this year with 3 goals, 11 assists and a plus-14 rating. With Atlanta playing in Toronto last night look for the Caps to attack early and try to build on the momentum from the end of last game. Watch for a very physical game as the Caps may have some payback in mind for the opening day loss in Atlanta. My thought is a little home cooking and a tired Atlanta team will make for a good night for the boys in red.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 6 ATL 2

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