About the Capitals - 01-22-12
A preview of the Capitals.
When and where: 12:30 p.m. EST. Consol Energy Center.
TV: NBC, NHL Network (Canada).
Record: 25-19-2, 52 points. The Capitals are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference and second place in the Southeast Division.
Leading Scorer: Nicklas Backstrom, 42 points (13 goals, 29 assists).
Last Game: 3-0 road loss to the Hurricanes, Friday. Tomas Vokoun (right) made 30 saves for Washington.
Last Game against the Penguins: 1-0 home win, Dec. 1. Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves for the Penguins.
Capitals Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: As always, Mike Knuble.
Ex-Penguins on the Capitals: Jim Johnson, assistant coach.
Ex-Capitals on the Penguins: Matt Cooke, LW; Brent Johnson, G.
Useless Capitals Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Two former Penguins defensemen have served as the Capitals' captain: Yvon Labre and Kevin Hatcher.
Best Capitals Video We Could Find: The final segment of the final episode of last season's "24/7":
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (24-12-2, 2.24 GAA, .914 SV%) for the Penguins and Tomas Vokoun (19-12-0, 2.55 GAA, .917 SV%) for the Capitals.
Injuries: For the Penguins, right winger Arron Asham (head) is out. Centers Sidney Crosby (head), Jordan Staal (knee) and defensemen Simon Despres (knee) are on injured reserve. For the Capitals, center Nicklas Backstrom (head) is day to day. Defensemen Mike Green (groin) and Tom Poti (groin) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' did not practice with a full crew yesterday. Their primary lines and defensive pairigns against the Canadiens Friday were:
Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Pascal Dupuis - Dustin Jeffrey - Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke - Richard Park - Steve Sullivan
Eric Tangradi - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams
Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Deryk Engelland - Matt Niskanen
-The Capitals primary lines and defensive pairings at practice yesterday were:
Alex Ovechkin - Marcus Johansson - Troy Brower
Mike Knuble - Brooks Laich - Alexander Semin
Jason Chimera - Jeff Halpern - Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks - Cody Eakin - Mathieu Perreault/Jay Beagle
Karl Alzner - Dennis Wideman
Dmitry Orlov - John Carlson
Roman Hamrlik - Tomas Kundratek
Notes:
-The Penguins demoted forward Jason Williams to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the AHL.
-Park has scored 99 career goals.
-Neal has scored 97 career goals.
-Kennedy has 145 career points.
-The Capitals are expected to be wearing their throwback jerseys today.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 11:30 a.m. (Thanks NBC). Please tune in.
(Photo: Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)