Caps/Devils Preview

New Jersey Devils (38-18-6, 82 points)
at
Washington Capitals (24-28-10, 58 points)

Television: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: WTNT 570-AM
Gametime: 1:00 PM ET

When the Caps and Devils hit the ice today at the Verizon Center, the NHL's trade deadline will be a little more than 48 hours away. What that means is that this might be the last time a few select players get a chance to wear a Capitals sweater.

Danius Zubrus and Richard Zednik seem to be the most sought after assets Washington has. Both players will be unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, and while the team has expressed interest in resigning them, neither is close to an agreement. If extensions are not reached before the deadline the word is that they will be dealt.

The Caps could also part with a few other players in hopes of solving their current logjam on the blue line. Veterans Jamie Heward and Brian Muir have both been involved in trade rumors over the past few days. The only problem with trading them is, what can you get in return? Is it really worth dealing them for middle round draft picks, which is about as much as I can see them getting in individual deals. Their is always the possibility that they could package them together with Zubrus or Zednik in hopes of increasing their overall value. All of this should lead to an exciting couple of days as the team prepares to make moves to improve the team for the long haul.

As for the game itself, the Capitals will look to build on their solid performance in New Jersey in hopes of sweeping their weekend series against the Devils. While Alex Ovechkin was unable to break out of his current funk, going scoreless again in yesterday game, his fellow countryman Alexander Semin had a goal and assist to lead the Caps to the win. The team also got offense contributions from Boyd Gordon (2 assists), Matt Pettinger (SH goal), Milan Jurcina (1st goal with Caps), and Tomas Fleichmann (1st NHL goal, picured) to provide an unexpected offensive explosion against one of the best goaltenders in the game today.
(Photo Courtesy of Bill Kostroun/AP)

Before yesterday's result the plan was for the Devils to rest Martin Brodeur today and start his seldom used backup Scott Clemmensen. But now it wouldn't surprise anyone if Brodeur is back in the net again today in a game New Jersey would hate to lose.

Heading into the weekend, the Caps had already announced their intentions to play Brent Johnson in both games. On Saturday, he finally was able to win his first game in the fifth start he's had since since replacing the injured Olie Kolzig, and picked up his first career victory over the Devils.

The key to the game will once again be to get out to a good start and avoid falling behind a Devils team that is traditionally hard to come from behind on. Plus, you have to expect New Jersey to be extra prepared for this game following yesterday's outcome.

Caps Get the Bounces, End 7 Game Losing Streak at the Meadowlands

Team Gets Their First Victory Over the Devils Since March 29, 2002
Washington Capitals 4, New Jersey Devils 2
Boxscore
(Photo Courtesy of Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

Playing without their top two right wingers, Chris Clark and rookie Eric Fehr, and facing arguably the best goaltender in the game in Martin Brodeur, the Caps prospects for success in New Jersey had to be glim.

Coming into today's game my key to victory was for the Caps to get some lucky bounces and get on the board first. That's exactly what they were able to do as just 8:43 into the first period defenseman Milan Jurcina took a nice feed from Alexander Semin, and wristed a shot from the point that found it's way through the traffic in front, courtesy of Ovechkin and Beech, and past goaltender Martin Brodeur. It was Juricina's 1st goal with the Capitals and 3rd of the season as he was on his way to another quality outing, leading the team in ice time with 25:46. The goal was subject to debate by Capitals commentators Joe Benenati and Craig Laughlin throughout the game as it was originally credited to Ovechkin, while Benenati believed it should of belonged to Beech. In the end though it was awarded to Jurcina.

Washington did an excellent job in the first period of shutting down the Devils attack and staying out of the penalty box. The 8 shots New Jersey was able to get on net only seemed to build the confidence of goaltender Brent Johnson as he appeared to be on top of his game.

The Capitals continued to put on the pressure in the second and were able to extend there lead to 3-0 following goals by Semin and Pettinger just two minutes apart. Semin scored the Caps second goal of the game on a short side breakaway thanks to an end to end pass from Kris Beech. As he approached the net, Brodeur went for the pokecheck and Semin was able to beat him with a nice backhand into the top of the net. Pettinger provided the third goal of the game shorthanded on a perfect lead pass by Boyd Gordon off the side boards that sent him in on a breakaway. Again the backhand was the choice of attack and Pettinger and able to roof the shot over the goaltender's blocker side. Gordon's assist was his 6th shorthanded point of the season tying him for second place in the NHL behind only the Lightning's Martin St. Louis who has 7.

Halfway through the second period the Caps were on the verge of extending their lead to 4 on the power play when Brodeur was able to make back-to-back quality saves on both Ovechkin and Zubrus as Washington's power play was expiring. On the counter attack the Devils were finally able to beat Brent Johnson as New Jersey's resident tough guy Cam Janssen rifled a slap shot from just inside the Capitals blue line and into the back of the net. It was Janssen's first career NHL goal.

Washington was able to reestablish their three goal lead in the third period as Tomas Fleichmann would tally his first career NHL goal. He took a breakaway pass from Gordon as he exited the penalty box and beat Brodeur's poke check with a backhand shot that deflected off of the goaltenders stick and floated into the net. Fleichmann had a solid game taking Eric Fehr's spot on the team's second line. Besides his goal, he was +2 defensively and had 2 hits and 4 shots on goal in 13:23 of ice time.

That goal would be the icing on the cake as the Devils were only able to beat Johnson once more after a lucky bounce resulted in an empty net opportunity for Jay Pandolfo making the final 4-2. Johnson made some key stops in the remaining minutes to deny the Devils of pulling any closer.

John Erskine provided the physical highlights of the game with several big collisions recording 3 hits on the night and winning a fight with the Devils' Cam Janssen with five minutes remaining in the game. He used his reach and strength advantage to continuously hit Janssen with solid rights.

Donald Brashear acquitted himself well in his first game on the top line and had an excellent scoring chance denied by Brodeur in the closing minute of the opening period. He had a wide open shot from the right circle courtesy of a nice cross ice pass from Ovechkin. His high wrist shot was thwarted by Brodeur as he stacked his pads while diving across the goal.

Entering the game the talk was that New Jersey would start goaltender Scott Clemmensen in tomorrow's game at the Verizon Center in order to give Brodeur some much needed rest. But with the result of today's game those plans might change. No matter who is in goal, the Caps will need every bit of the effort they showed today in order to come out victorious again at home.

Game Notes:

Ben Clymer (healthy), Eric Fehr (lower back), and Steve Eminger (healthy) were the scratches.... Brent Johnson won his first career game over the Devils. He is expected to get the start again tomorrow with Frederic Cassivi continuing to back him up.

Caps/Devils Preview

Washington Capitals (23-28-10, 56 points)
at
New Jersey Devils (38-17-6, 82 points)

Television: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: Sportstalk 980-AM
Gametime: 1:00 PM ET

It's the first of a home and home afternoon series this weekend as the Caps travel to the Garden State to take on Martin Brodeur and the Atlantic Division leaders.

Again Washington will face arguably one of the hottest teams in the league at the moment as the Devils are 9-3-1 in 13 games since the All-Star break. They are also 19-4-3 in their last 26 games and 26-8-5 in their last 39. At home this season they have an outstanding mark of 22-6-4. Why did I just throw all of those numbers at you? Because all of this means that the Caps will have to play some of their best hockey if they wish to come out of either contest this weekend with two points.

The Caps bring a 1-12-1 record in their last 14 road games into today's contest. The key will be a good start and hopefully some lucky bounces that can get this team on the board first, giving them the confidence they have surely lacked in recent outings. A repeat opening of their last road game in Montreal, where the Caps took 7 penalties and allowed 3 power play goals in the first period, and they will be in for a long and ugly weekend.

While it's hard to believe given the results this past week, goaltender Brent Johnson has filled in admirably for the injured Olie Kolzig recording a 2.65 goals against average and a .908 save percentage in the last four games.

If nothing else today's game will be another chance for Alex Ovechkin to try and break out of the current funk he is in. He has 0 points in his last 4 games and just 1 goal and 1 assist in his last 9. They will need him to find a way to contribute as the team will be without it's captain and first line right winger Chris Clark for the next 7 to 10 days with a shoulder sprain. In his place, Tomas Fleichmann was recalled from Hershey and should get the opportunity to step right into the Capitals top line. The speedy Czech winger has 20 goals and 27 assists so far this season in 43 games at the AHL level.

Capitals/Hurricanes Preview

Washington Capitals (20-21-7, 47 points)
at
Carolina Hurricanes (25-19-6, 56 points)

Television: NC8
Radio: WTNT 570-AM
Gametime: 7:00 PM

The second half of the season officially begins Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina as the Capitals begin a home-and-home series against the defending Stanley Cup champions. It was only eight days ago that Washington entered an away game against Carolina riding a six game road losing streak and a three game losing streak overall. Despite all that, the team was able to put together a solid sixty minute effort for an impressive 5-2 win.

They will need an even better performance in order to overcome a Hurricanes team that will be fully prepared to avenge what their coach Peter Laviolette described as a bitterly disappointing effort. Carolina went into the break with a two game losing streak after they followed up that game with an overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last Saturday.

Alex Ovechkin will return to the team after missing Thursday's practice while traveling back from the NHL All-Star game in Dallas. A game in which he had the most ice time of any forward and was able to tally his first career all-star goal. It remains to be seen if Ovechkin will continue to wear his stylish but controversial blue mirrored visor in the regular season. While not against NHL rules, a similar mirrored visor he wore last year was voted down by general managers by a vote of 29-1 after New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur complained that he could not see his eyes. He enters Friday night's game riding a nine game point scoring streak, accumulating 4 goals and 11 assists over that span.

Carolina defenseman Niclas Wallin is questionable for the game with a lower-body injury which he suffered against Washington in last week's game.
For the Capitals, what last week was described as the flu, has now been changed to an upper body injury for Brian Pothier. He will miss Friday's game as defenseman Jeff Schultz was recalled Thursday to take his place in the lineup. He played well when he was thrust into the lineup before the break because of injuries. As reported in the Washington Post, Matt Bradley will also be missing from the lineup for personal reasons. This could explain why Jakub Klepis was recalled earlier in the week. Richard Zednik should return to the lineup any day now after recovering from a severe groin injury.

It will be the fifth out of eight games on the season between these division rivals.