Washington Capitals

Game #6: New Jersey Devils at Washington Capitals

Where: Verizon Center, Washington, DC

When: October 12, 2009 7:00 PM

History:
Caps Record on this Date: 3-9-0-1
Caps Game 6 Record: 10-18-4-2
All-Time vs. NJ: 72-55-8-8
All-Time at home vs. NJ: 42-22-4-4
Last Season vs. NJ: 2-0-2
Last Meeting: 2/3/09, WAS 5 NJ 2

This Year:

WAS Record: 2-2-1
Standings Points: 5
Division Rank: 1st
Conference Rank: 3rd
Last Game: 10/10/09, WAS 2 DET 3
Streak: Loss 3

NJ Record: 2-2-0
Standings Points: 4
Division Rank: 4th
Conference Rank: 9th
Last Game: 10/10/09, NJ 3 FLA 2
Streak: Win 2

Probable Line-Ups:
Washington
Forward Line 1: 8 OVECHKIN, 19 BACKSTROM, 22 KNUBLE
Forward Line 2: 21 LAICH, 9 MORRISON, 28 SEMIN
Forward Line 3: 16 FEHR, 39 STECKEL, 17 CLARK
Forward Line 4: 53 LAING, 15 GORDON, 10 BRADLEY
Defense Pair 1: 26 MORRISONN, 52 GREEN
Defense Pair 2: 23 JURCINA, 3 POTI
Defense Pair 3: 4 ERSKINE, 2 POTHIER
Goalie: 40 VARLAMOV
Back-up Goalie: 60 THEODORE
Scratch: 92 NYLANDER, 89 SLOAN, 55 SCHULTZ

New Jersey
Forward Line 1: 15 LANGENBRUNNER, 19 ZAJAK, 9 PARISE
Forward Line 2: 23 CLARKSON, 8 ZUBRUS, 12 ROLSTON
Forward Line 3: 18 BERGFORS, 21 NIEDERMAYER, 20 PANDOLFO
Forward Line 4: PIKKARAINEN, 10 PELLY, 25 PETERS
Defense Pair 1: 7 MARTIN, 29 ODUYA
Defense Pair 2: 5 WHITE, 24 SALVADOR
Defense Pair 3: 27 MOTTAU, 28 MURPHY
Goalie: 30 BRODEUR
Back-up Goalie: 35 DANIS

Injuries:
Washington - 14 FLEISCHMANN (blood clot) IR

New Jersey - 2 FRASER (upper body) IR, 26 ELIAS (groin) IR

Caps Milestones:
Tom Poti needs 4 points to reach 300 in his career.
Mike Green needs 6 assists to reach 100 in his career.
Mike Knuble needs 4 penalty minute to reach 500 in his career.

Preview:
The Caps look to break their 3-game losing streak at home against the New Jersey Devils. One of the issues they are looking to address is taking too many dumb penalties. It hurt them last year and continues to hurt them this year. In this weekend’s loss to Detroit the Caps, 3 guys took 5 minor penalties with the last two being turned into goals, including the game winner, by the Red Wings. Watch for the team to be more attentive against the Devils and hopefully not at the expense of being aggressive. The Caps worked hard along the boards in Detroit and need that same effort tonight. It should be a grinding type game but look for a big game from the Caps top line. I’m thinking an early goal from the Caps will set the tempo and for goodness sake can someone on the back line please put the puck in the net.

Joe’s prediction: Caps 5 NJ 3

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