Caps/Sharks Preview

San Jose Sharks (36-22-1, 73 points)
at
Washington Capitals (23-28-9, 55 points)

Television: Comcast SportsNet, TSN
Radio: Sportstalk 980-AM
Gametime: 7:00 PM ET

The Caps will welcome home their former head coach Doug Wilson tonight as he brings his Sharks to town for the only meeting of the season between these clubs. It will also be the final game against a Western Conference team this season for Washington.

Once again the Capitals will face a team that has been struggling as of late, although that didn't seem to matter in last night's game in Montreal. The Sharks come into the game tonight having lost their last three games, while the Caps are currently riding a four game losing streak. During their recent streak San Jose has been outscored 13-2, including being shut out in consecutive games at Nashville and Columbus.

In an interesting move San Jose has recalled goaltender Nolan Schaefer from the AHL to take the place of Vesa Toskala who is out with the flu. What makes this move so intriguing is that Schaefer had been assigned to the Capitals AHL affiliate the Hershey Bears. Now he could actually play against the Caps tonight, although he will most likely only see the bench as Evgeni Nabokov's backup.

After yesterday's results around the league that included a Florida Panthers overtime win at the Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington now finds itself deeper into the cellar position of the Southeast Division as they are now three points behind the Panthers. The space between them and the final playoff position also continues to grow as they are now twelve points behind the Carolina Hurricanes who currently occupy that spot.

The game will be seen by a national television audience as it will be broadcast on TSN in Canada.