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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Game #52 Preview: Montreal Canadians at Washington Capitals



Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When:  February 1, 2011, 7:30 PM

History:           
Caps Record on this Date: 11-6-1-0
Caps Game 52 Record: 15-9-10-0
All-Time vs. MON: 54-67-17-2
All-Time at home vs. MON: 33-28-9-0
Last Season vs. MON: 2-1-1
Last Meeting: 12/28/10, WAS 3 MON 0
Season Series: 1-0-0

This Year:
WAS Record: 27-15-9
Standings Points: 63
Division Rank: 2nd
Conference Rank: 5th
Last Game: 1/26/11, WAS 0 ATL 1
Streak: Loss 2

MON Record: 27-18-5
Standings Points: 59
Division Rank: 2nd
Conference Rank: 7th    
Last Game: 1/25/11, MON 2 PHI 5
Streak: Loss 2

Probable Line-Ups:     
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 25 CHIMERA
Forward Line 2: 21 LAICH, 85 PERRAULT, 22 KNUBLE  
Forward Line 3: 26 HENDRICKS, 90 JOHANSSON, 10 BRADLEY
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

Montreal
Forward Line 1: 57 POULIOT, 14 PLEKANEC, 81 ELLER
Forward Line 2: 67 PACIORETTY, 11 GOMEZ, 21 GIONTA
Forward Line 3: 94 PYATT, 58 DESHARNAIS, 52 DARCHE
Forward Line 4: 32 MOEN, 15 HALPERN, 53 WHITE
Defense Pair 1: 44 HAMRLIK, 20 WISNIEWSKI
Defense Pair 2: 75 GILL, 76 SUBBAN
Defense Pair 3: 6 SPACEK, 68 WEBER
Goalie: 31 PRICE
Back-up Goalie: 35 AULD

Injuries:
Washington – 3 POTI (upper body) IR, 28 SEMIN (hip) DTD, 16 FEHR (upper body) DTD, 30 NEUVIRTH (lower body) DTD

MON – 13 CAMMALLERI (shoulder) IR, 26 GORGES (knee) IR, 79 MARKOV (knee) IR

Caps Milestones:
Matt Bradley will play in NHL career game #600.
Jason Chimera needs 5 goals to reach 100 in his career.
Brooks Laich needs 7 goals to reach 100 in his career.
Alex Ovechkin needs 8 assists to reach 300 in his career.

Preview:

Hopefully, a little break is just what the team needed. The All-Star Game is over and Washington is back to work for the first of the final 31 games of the season. It’s been a frustrating season for the Capitals who have had to claw their way for every point they have in the standings. Tonight brings the Montreal Canadians calling to the Verizon Center for the second of four meetings against the Caps. Washington took the first game 3-0 at the end of December and will look to put together the same type of effort tonight. The Caps took the lead early and shut down the Canadians the rest of the way. The Caps are starting to get healthy as Matt Bradley returned last game and Alexander Semin, who just signed on for another year with Washington, is reportedly ready to return as well. I expect that this game will be another physical battle played along the boards and whoever wants it more will come out the victor.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 MON 1



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