Game #37 Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Washington Capitals

Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When:  December 23, 2010 7:00 PM

History:           

Caps Record on this Date: 13-6-4-0

Caps Game 37 Record: 13-15-6-1

All-Time vs. PIT: 83-86-16-4

All-Time at home vs. PIT: 49-35-9-3

Last Season vs. PIT: 4-0-0

Last Meeting: 5/6/10, WAS 6 PIT 3

This Year:

WAS Record: 20-12-4

Standings Points: 44

Division Rank: 1st

Conference Rank: 2nd

Last Game: 12/21/10, WAS 5 NJ 1

Streak: Win 2

PIT Record: 23-10-2

Standings Points: 48

Division Rank: 2nd

Conference Rank: 4th    

Last Game: 12/22/10, PIT 5 FLA 2

Streak: Win 2

Probable Line-Ups:     

Washington

Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 28 SEMIN

Forward Line 2: 21 LAICH, 85 PERRAULT, 22 KNUBLE

Forward Line 3: 25 CHIMERA, 90 JOHANSSON, 63 GORDON

Forward Line 4: 26 HENDRICKS, 39 STECKEL, 83 BEAGLE

Defense Pair 1: 52 GREEN, 23 HANNAN

Defense Pair 2: 27 ALZNER, 74 CARLSON

Defense Pair 3: 3 POTI, 4 ERSKINE

Goalie: 30 NEUVIRTH

Back-up Goalie: 1 VARLAMOV

Pittsburgh

Forward Line 1: 14 KUNITZ, 87 CROSBY, 9 DUPUIS

Forward Line 2: 25 TALBOT, 71 MALKIN, 24 COOKE

Forward Line 3: 18 CONNER, 10 LETESTU, 48 KENNEDY

Forward Line 4: 17 RUPP, 27 ADAMS, 45 ASHAM

Defense Pair 1: ORPIK, 58 LETANG

Defense Pair 2: 7 MARTIN, 4 MICHALEK

Defense Pair 3: 3 GOLIGOSKI, 5 ENGELLAND

Goalie: 29 FLEURY

Back-up Goalie: 1 JOHNSON

Injuries:

Washington – 55 SCHULTZ (broken thumb) IR, 89 SLOAN (hip flexor) IR, 15 GORDON (lower body) IR, 17 KING (undisclosed) IR, 16 FEHR (personal reasons) DTD, 10 BRADLEY (broken finger) IR

PIT – COMRIE (lower body) IR, GRANT (wrist, neck) IR, STAAL (foot< hand) IR

Caps Milestones:

Mike Knuble needs 3 points to reach 500 in his career.

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

Preview:

After a win over the lowly Devils, the Capitals play host to the red hot Pittsburgh Penguins. This will be a huge test for this Caps team that just came out of a tough losing streak and will look to record their third consecutive win. In the last game, Washington was hit once again by the injury bug when Matt Bradley sustained a broken finger and will be out for at least a few weeks. It will be interesting if Head Coach Bruce Boudreau will employ his line matching strategy against the number one line of the Penguins as he did to great effect against the Ducks big line a week ago. For the Caps, they are going to need another big night from their grinding forwards. The big guns for Washington have been silent for most of December and need to get back to crashing the net for goals. I expect both teams to be fired up and it should be an incredibly fast paced game with the Capitals pulling the upset.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 4 PIT 3

Official Preview