Game #34 Preview: Washington Capitals at Boston Bruins

Where: TD Garden, Boston, MA

When:  December 18, 2010 7:00 PM

History:           

Caps Record on this Date: 8-7-1-0

Caps Game 34 Record: 12-17-4-2

All-Time vs. BOS: 42-63-21-8

All-Time at BOS: 19-35-9-4

Last Season vs. BOS: 3-0-1

Last Meeting: 11/5/10, WAS 5 BOS 3

Season Series vs. BOS: 1-2-0

This Year:

WAS Record: 18-11-4

Standings Points: 40

Division Rank: 1st

Conference Rank: 3rd

Last Game: 12/15/10, WAS 1 ANA 2 (OT)

Streak: Loss 7

BOS Record: 16-10-4

Standings Points: 36

Division Rank: 2nd

Conference Rank: 8th    

Last Game: 12/16/10, BOS 3 MON 4

Streak: Loss 2

Probable Line-Ups:     

Washington

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

Forward Line 2: 21 LAICH, 85 PERRAULT, 16 FEHR

Forward Line 3: 25 CHIMERA, 90 JOHANSSON, 83 BEAGLE

Forward Line 4: 26 HENDRICKS, 39 STECKEL, 10 BRADLEY

Defense Pair 1: 52 GREEN, 27 ALZNER

Defense Pair 2: 3 POTI, 74 CARLSON

Defense Pair 3: 23 HANNAN, 4 ERSKINE

Goalie: 30 NEUVIRTH

Back-up Goalie: 1 VARLAMOV

Boston

Forward Line 1: 17 LUCIC, 46 KREJCI, 18 HORTON

Forward Line 2: 26 WHEELER, 37 BERGERON, 28 RECCHI

Forward Line 3: 19 SEGUIN, 91 SAVARD, 73 RYDER

Forward Line 4: 63 MARCHAND, 11 CAMPBELL, 22 THORNTON

Defense Pair 1: 33 CHARA, 55 BOYCHUK

Defense Pair 2: 44 SEIDENBERG, 47 KAMPFER

Defense Pair 3: 21 FERENCE, 54 MCQUAID

Goalie: 30 THOMAS

Back-up Goalie: 40 RASK

Injuries:

Washington – 55 SCHULTZ (broken thumb) IR, 89 SLOAN (hip flexor) IR, 15 GORDON (lower body) IR, 17 KING (undisclosed) IR, 28 SEMIN (lower body) DTD

BOS – 42 WHITFIELD (Achilles) IR, 45 STUART (broken hand) IR

Caps Milestones:

Jason Chimera needs 1 point to reach 200 in his career.

Mike Knuble needs 5 points to reach 500 in his career.

Nicklas Backstrom needs 8 points to reach 300 in his career.

Matt Bradley 1 PIM to reach 500 in his career.

Preview:

Washington heads on the road for a back-to-back weekend where they face the Boston Bruins on Saturday and the Ottawa Senators on Sunday. The team played much better in Wednesday’s overtime loss to the Ducks. With two more days of practice the Capitals will look to put some more goals on the board against the Bruins. The team has only scored 9 goals during the 7-game losing streak and need to get more production from, well, just about everyone. Look for another tight checking game with the Capitals paying attention to detail. I get the feeling the boys are going to breakout in this game.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 BOS 2

Official Preview