Game #48 Preview: Washington Capitals at New York Islanders

Where: Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, NY

When:  January 20, 2011, 7:00 PM

History:           

Caps Record on this Date: 4-5-1-0

Caps Game 48 Record: 17-16-2-0

All-Time vs. NYI: 88-79-13-3

All-Time at NYI: 42-46-2-1

Last Season vs. NYI: 3-0-1

Last Meeting: 10/13/10, WAS 2 NYI 1

This Year:

WAS Record: 25-14-8

Standings Points: 58

Division Rank: 2nd

Conference Rank: 5th

Last Game: 1/18/11, WAS 2 PHI 3 (OT)

Streak: Loss 1

NYI Record: 14-23-7

Standings Points: 35

Division Rank: 4th

Conference Rank: 14th    

Last Game: 1/17/11, NYI 2 NJ 5

Streak: Loss 1

Probable Line-Ups:     

Washington

Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 CHIMERA

Forward Line 2: 21 LAICH, 90 JOHANSSON, 22 KNUBLE  

Forward Line 3: 26 HENDRICKS, 85 PERRAULT, 83 BEAGLE

Forward Line 4: 17 KING, 15 GORDON, 39 STECKEL

Defense Pair 1: 52 GREEN, 55 SCHULTZ

Defense Pair 2: 27 ALZNER, 74 CARLSON

Defense Pair 3: 23 HANNAN, 4 ERSKINE

Goalie: 1 VARLAMOV

Back-up Goalie: 70 HOLTBY

Islanders

Forward Line 1: 26 MOULSON, 91 TAVARES, 15 PARENTEAU

Forward Line 2: 12 BAILEY, 44 SCHREMP, 57 COMEAU

Forward Line 3: 40 GRABNER, 37 COLLITON, 14 GILLIES

Forward Line 4: 17 MARTIN, 28 KONOPKA, 8 GERVAIS

Defense Pair 1: 47 MACDONALD, 36 HAMONIC

Defense Pair 2: 38 HILLEN, 27 JURCINA

Defense Pair 3: 42 REESE, 24 MARTINEK

Goalie: 60 POULIN

Back-up Goalie: 39 DIPIETRO

Injuries:

Washington – 3 POTI (upper body) IR, 10 BRADLEY (broken finger) IR, 28 SEMIN (hip) DTD, 16 FEHR (upper body) DTD, 30 NEUVIRTH (lower body) DTD

NYI – EATON (hip) IR, HUNTER (knee) IR, MOTTAU (hip) IR, NIELSEN (groin) IR, OKPOSO (shoulder) IR, STREIT (shoulder) IR, WEIGHT (back) IR

Caps Milestones:

Jason Chimera needs 6 goals to reach 100 in his career.

Brooks Laich needs 7 goals to reach 100 in his career.

Preview:

After a disappointing 3-2 overtime loss in Philly, the Capitals head to Long Island to take on the 14^th place Islanders. But the Capitals better not kid themselves; the Isles have been playing some good hockey lately and always seem to give the Caps a tough game. Washington is looking to be more consistent but lost Michal Nuevirth to a lower body injury midway through last game and had to recall Braden Holtby from Hershey. I am expecting another tight contest between these two teams. The Caps scoring outage has shown no signs of letting up and the team has only scored 1 first period goal in its last 8 games. Watch for Nicklas Backstrom in this game as he has been putting together some good efforts the last week and looks poised to break out. I think the Caps will control much of the action in this game but the scoring will be low making for another nail biter for the Capitals.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 NYI 2

Official Preview