Game #27 Washington Capitals at Toronto Maple Leafs

Where: Air Canada Center, Toronto, Ontario

When: December 6, 2008, 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 6-6-1-0
Caps Game 27 Record: 15-13-5-0
All-Time vs. TOR: 51-47-10-2
All-Time at TOR: 19-27-6-1
Last Season vs. TOR: 2-2-0
Last Meeting: 2/20/08, WAS 2 NYI 3 (OT-SO)

This Year:
WAS Record: 14-9-3
Standings Points: 31
Division Rank: 1st
Conference Rank: 3rd
Last Game: 12/4/08, WAS 5 NYI 2
Streak: Win 1

TOR Record: 9-11-6
Standings Points: 24
Division Rank: 4th
Conference Rank: 11th
Last Game: 12/4/08, TOR 3 PHO 6
Streak: Loss 2

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

Toronto
Forward Line 1: 41 KULEMIN, 84 GRABOVSKI, 9 HAGMAN
Forward Line 2: 80 ANTROPOV, 14 STAJAN, 12 STEMPNIAK
Forward Line 3: 23 PONIKAROVSKY, 19 MOORE, 55 BLAKE
Forward Line 4: 44 HOLLWEG, 39 MITCHELL, 56 DEVEAUX
Defense Pair 1: 2 SCHENN, 15 KABERLE
Defense Pair 2: 4 FINGER, 77 KUBINA
Defense Pair 3: 7 WHITE, 36 STRALMAN
Goalie: 35 TOSKALA
Back-up Goalie: 31 JOSEPH

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
Toronto – VAN RYN (concussion, broken nose, broken finger) IR, FROGREN (arm) IR, MAYERS (hand) 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:
Washington heads to Toronto to face the Maple Leafs and again will be without 7 of their regulars due to injury. The Caps road record has left much to be desired as they have only won 4 of 14 contests. On Thursday the team was able to generate secondary scoring and this was the difference in the game. Look for the team to try and repeat this effort. Be sure to watch the shot counter and if the Caps have more than 30 shots on goal they more than likely will be having a good night. I think the team will pull together a hard fought victory over the Leafs.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 4 TOR 3

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