Game #24 Washington Capitals at Columbus Blue Jackets

Where: Nationwide Arena, Columbus, OH

When: November 29, 2008, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 5-10-2-0
Caps Game 24 Record: 16-13-4-0
All-Time vs. CLB: 6-1-1-0
All-Time at CLB: 4-1-0-0
Last Season vs. CLB: 1-0-0
Last Meeting: 2/5/08, WAS 4 CLB 3

This Year:
WAS Record: 13-7-3
Standings Points: 29
Division Rank: 1st
Conference Rank: 3rd
Last Game: 11/28/08, WAS 3 MON 0
Streak: Win 2

CLB Record: 9-10-3
Standings Points: 21
Division Rank: 4th
Conference Rank: 11th
Last Game: 11/28/08, CLB 3 DET 5
Streak: Loss 2

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 KOZLOV
Forward Line 2: 14 FLEISCHMANN, 92 NYLANDER, 16 FEHR
Forward Line 3: 21 LAICH, 39 STECKEL 10 BRADLEY
Forward Line 4: 87 BRASHEAR, 15 GORDON, 56 BOURQUE
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

Columbus
Forward Line 1: 20 HUSELIUS, 16 BRASSARD, 61 NASH
Forward Line 2: 25 CHIMERA, 18 UMBERGER, 93 VORACEK
Forward Line 3: 33 MODIN, 19 PECA, 14 TORRES
Forward Line 4: 40 BOLL, 27 MALHOTRA, 17 MURRAY
Defense Pair 1: 8 HEYDA, 22 COMMODORE
Defense Pair 2: 3 METHOT, 51 TYUTIN
Defense Pair 3: 5 BACKMAN, 10 RUSSELL
Goalie: 1 MASON
Back-up Goalie: 31 LECLAIRE

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
Columbus – 15 DORSETT (hand) IR, 97 KLESLA (ankle) IR, 30 NORRENA (undisclosed) DTD

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:
After taking care of the Montreal Canadians in shutout fashion the Caps head to Columbus for a meeting with the Blue Jackets. Columbus suffered a late third collapse and fell to the Detroit Red Wings last night and will be looking for some redemption. The Caps meanwhile are still without 7 of their regular starters. The Caps blue line has been bolstered by the young and old from the Hershey ranks as Tyler Sloan, Sami Lepisto, Karl Alzner, and Bryan Helmer will get the call again tonight. According to my unofficial stats the Caps have already lost 75 man-games from injury this season. Look for the Caps to take control of this game early and force Columbus to come back. Watch the second line in this game as Tomas Fleischmann, Michael Nylander, and Eric Fehr have had tremendous chemistry lately. Also watch Alex Ovechkin who will try to extend his 10-game point scoring streak. In two prior meetings with the Jackets, Ovechkin has 4 goals.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 5 CLB 1

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