Game #72 Preview: Washington Capitals at Detroit Red Wings

Where: Joe Lewis Arena, Detroit, MI

When:  March 16, 2011, 7:30 PM

History:           

Caps Record on this Date: 11-6-1-0

Caps Game 72 Record: 15-13-5-1

All-Time vs. DET: 38-42-16-2

All-Time at DET: 15-21-11-2

Last Season vs. DET: 1-1-0

Last Meeting: 1/19/10, WAS 3 DET 2

Season Series: 0-0-0

This Year:

WAS Record: 41-20-10

Standings Points: 92

Division Rank: 1st

Conference Rank: 2nd

Last Game: 3/15/11, WAS 4 MON 2

Streak: Won 9

DET Record: 41-20-8

Standings Points: 90

Division Rank: 1st

Conference Rank: 2nd    

Last Game: 3/12/11, DET 5 STL 3

Streak: Won 2

Probable Line-Ups:     

Washington

Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 21 LAICH, 28 SEMIN

Forward Line 2: 18 STURM, 90 JOHANSSON, 22 KNUBLE

Forward Line 3: 25 CHIMERA, 83 BEAGLE, 16 FEHR

Forward Line 4: 26 HENDRICKS, 15 GORDON, 10 BRADLEY

Defense Pair 1: 23 HANNAN, 6 WIDEMAN

Defense Pair 2: 27 ALZNER, 74 CARLSON

Defense Pair 3: 55 SCHULTZ, 4 ERSKINE

Goalie: 30 NEUVIRTH

Back-up Goalie: 70 HOLTBY

Detroit

Forward Line 1: 40 ZETTERBERG, 13 DATSYUK, 93 FRANZEN

Forward Line 2: 11 CLEARY, 51 FILPPULA, 44 BERTUZZI

Forward Line 3: 26 HUDLER, 90 MODANO, 8 ABDELKADER

Forward Line 4: 20 MILLER, 43 HELM, 96 HOLMSTROM

Defense Pair 1: 5 LIDSTROM, 23 STUART

Defense Pair 2: 52 ERICSSON, 55 KRONWALL

Defense Pair 3: 4 KINDL, 24 SALEI

Goalie: 35 HOWARD

Back-up Goalie: 30 OSGOOD

Injuries:

Washington – 3 POTI (upper body) IR, (upper body) IR, 52 GREEN (head) IR, 1 VARLAMOV (undisclosed) DTD, 19 BACKSTROM (hand) DTD, 44 ARNOTT (undisclosed) DTD

DET – EAVES (groin) DTD, RAFALSKI (back) DTD

Caps Milestones:

Jason Arnott needs 2 goals to reach 400 in his career.

Jason Chimera needs 4 goals to reach 100 in his career.

Alex Ovechkin needs 3 goals to reach 300 in his career.

Preview:

This will be the biggest test of the season for the Capitals as they head into Detroit to take on the Red Wings. The two teams are even in the standings and have the talent to match. The Capitals will look to extend their winning streak to 10 games and take over the top spot in the Eastern Conference. They are playing much more consistent hockey lately and have started score on the power play. This has been a thorn in the side of the team for most of the year and if they expect to compete with Detroit they will need contributions from the special teams. The Caps will be without Mike Green, Jason Arnott, and possibly Nicklas Backstrom so they will need a full team effort to prevail tonight. Look for a tight checking game with lots of speed. The key for the Caps is to win the board battles and keep the Wings to outside as much as possible. I expect this game to be very close but the Caps have been playing well and have lots of confidence so look for a third period breakout.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 3 DET 2

Official Preview