Game 42 : Penguins @ Capitals : 01.11.12 : Game Thread!

[Kipper]

[Kipper]

What To Watch For: Pens vs. Caps


Tuesday, 01.10.2012 / 11:15 PM / Features
By Michelle Crechiolo

PENGUINS (21-16-4) vs. CAPITALS (21-17-2)

WHEN: Jan. 11, 2012 - 7:30 pm | WHERE: Verizon Center


WATCH: NBC Sports Network | LISTEN: Penguins 24/7 Radio, 105.9 FM

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The Washington Capitals enter Thursday’s game against Pittsburgh having dropped both games of their California road trip (Los Angeles on Monday, San Jose on Saturday) by identical scores of 5-2. It’s an absolutely crucial game for the Penguins, who hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the East – with the 10th-place Capitals just two points behind.


The Capitals have been dealing with some significant injuries, as they were without top center Nicklas Backstrom and offensive defenseman Mike Green in their setback to Los Angeles on Monday. It was the third straight game that Backstrom, 23, has missed since suffering an apparent head injury after being elbowed by Calgary’s Rene Borque on Jan. 3.

Backstrom was placed on injured reserve Wednesday, and his absence will be a big blow for the Capitals as he leads the team with 42 points. He’d assisted on all three Washington goals in their 3-1 victory over the Flames the day he sustained his injury, the fifth straight game he’d earned a point.

Meanwhile, Green, 26, is having a second straight injury-plagued season. He left in the second period of Washington’s game against San Jose on Saturday with groin tightness. It was just the second game Green was playing in after missing the last 23 with the same injury – and just the 10th overall.

But despite the injuries, the Capitals are still playing good hockey overall. Before dropping their last two games, they went on a 6-1-1 run in their previous eight – and a big reason for that has been the play of two men with the same name – Alex Semin and Alex Ovechkin. Semin has points in eight of his last nine games, piling up five goals and six assists over that span. And although ‘Ovi’ was held pointless in the last two games, he’s generally looking like his old self – scoring seven goals and 11 points in that eight-game stretch.

Tomas Vokoun made his sixth straight start between the pipes on Monday and was replaced at the start of the third by Michal Neuvirth after surrendering four goals in the first two periods. Vokoun has an impressive 16-9 overall record, but Neuvirth, who’s 2-0-1 against Pittsburgh, may get the nod against the Penguins to give him a rest.

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CAPS – MARCUS JOHANSSON: Johanssen spent much of Washington’s last game centering Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin on the top line and ended up scoring twice for the Capitals in the 5-2 defeat to Los Angeles on Monday, giving him his first two-goal game of the season. Johanssen, the 24th-overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, now has six points (3G-3A) in his last six games. The lightning-quick center with playmaking skills and two-way ability has set a career high for assists (15) and is just three points shy of his point total from last season.

PENS – THE DEFENSE: The bad news for Pittsburgh is that Washington’s snipers are finally starting to heat up – Alex Semin has points in eight of his last nine games while Alex Ovechkin has seven goals in his last nine outings. With that being said, the Penguins did a fantastic job of efficiently and effectively shutting down Washington’s elite talents in their last meeting, a 2-1 Pittsburgh win – especially late in the game when it really counted, limiting the Capitals to just two shots in the third period. The Penguins defensemen – Brooks Orpik, Zbynek Michalek, Deryk Engelland, Matt Niskanen, Ben Lovejoy and hopefully Paul Martin – will need to dig deep and produce another performance like that.

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Tonight marks the official beginning of the second half of the season for the Penguins.

The Caps are 6-1-0 in their last seven home games, outscoring their opponents 27-13 in that span. The Caps own the top power play in the NHL on home ice (24.6%) and the third-best penalty kill (90.2%) at home. Washington has not allowed a power-play goal at Verizon Center in its first nine games under Dale Hunter (26-26) and has allowed just one goal in each of its last four home games. The Caps have scored at least one power-play goal in four of their last six home games for a 44.4% power-play percentage (8-18).

The Caps' streak of four straight games with at least one power play goal came to a halt against the Kings on Monday. The Caps had gone 5-for-7 for a 71.4% success rate on the man-advantage in their previous four games before going 0-for-3 in Los Angeles on Monday.

Since 2008, the Caps have gone 12-2-2 with two shootout losses against Pittsburgh. Alex Ovechkin has registered 33 points (19g-14a) in 26 career games against the Penguins while Mike Knuble has compiled 46 points (31g-15a) in 63 career games against Pittsburgh.

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The Penguins dodged a bullet on the injury front with forward James Neal. It was originally believed that Neal would be sidelined for “weeks, not days” with a broken foot suffered blocking a shot late in the third period on Jan. 7 against New Jersey.

But after further evaluation, it was determined the injury was actually a bone bruise and Neal, who will be able to play as pain permits, played on Tuesday vs. Ottawa. Get the full details on Neal's situation here.

Defenseman Paul Martin did not play Tuesday after missing that morning's skate and Monday's practice due to illness. And in a cruel twist of luck, his replacement – Simon Despres, recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton just hours before the game – left halfway through the first period with a lower-body injury and did not return.

Head coach Dan Bylsma had no update after the game, saying Despres would need “further evaluation at this point.”

In addition to the injuries to Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green (explained under Team Scope), the Capitals recalled defenseman Tomas Kundratek from Hershey late Tuesday evening. He will wear number 36 for Washington and will participate in morning skate at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

PENGUINS:
F Sidney Crosby, undisclosed
F Dustin Jeffrey, knee
D Kris Letang, broken nose and concussion
F Jordan Staal, knee

CAPITALS:
F Nicklas Backstrom, undisclosed
D Mike Green, groin tightness
D Tom Poti, groin

[Kipper]

Caps Come Home, Host Pens
Mike Vogel - WashingtonCaps.com Senior Writer




January 11 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at Verizon Center
Time: 7:30 pm
TV: NBCSN
Radio: 1500AM, 820AM, XM and Caps Radio Network
Pre-Game: Pre-Cap Podcast at 2 p.m., Two-Man Advantage at 5 p.m., John Walton’s one-on-one audio with Dale Hunter at 5 p.m., all on washingtoncaps.com.

Pittsburgh Penguins (21-16-4)
Washington Capitals (21-17-2)

Two nights after finishing off a fruitless West Coast trip with losses in San Jose and Los Angeles by identical 5-2 scores, the Capitals return to the friendly confines of Verizon Center to start a four-game homestand, their longest to date this season. Washington will have a five-game homestand from Feb.28-March 8, its longest overall in 2011-12.

First up are the Pittsburgh Penguins, in town on Wednesday night. In most recent seasons, a Capitals-Penguins meeting in mid-January would be a marquee match-up featuring two of the league’s top teams, rosters rife with stars on both sides. Both clubs have had more than their share of struggles lately, both on the ice and in the infirmary.

For Washington, Pittsburgh’s visit marks the end of the first half of the season and it is an important four-point game. Heading into the NHL’s Tuesday night slate of activity, Washington is running 10th in the Eastern Conference standings, two points behind the eighth-place Penguins.

Washington is nine points from the basement of the Eastern Conference standings, and 14 points from the penthouse.

It’s hard to imagine either Mike Green or Nicklas Backstrom playing in Wednesday’s game against the Penguins. Both players were sent home early from the team’s West Coast trip.

Green left Saturday’s game with San Jose with a recurrence of a groin injury originally sustained in a Nov. 11 contest against the Devils in New Jersey. Backstrom missed both games on the trip after taking a Rene Bourque elbow to the head in a Jan. 4 game against the Calgary Flames. Bourque received a five-game suspension from the NHL for his flagrant elbowing of Backstrom.

While Washington has struggled to a 7-12-1 record on the road this season, the Capitals are 14-5-1 in their first 20 home dates. The Caps have won four straight at home and six of their last seven.

The Caps took a four-game winning streak on the road with them last week, but they were unable to build on it. After playing a strong first period against the Sharks in San Jose, the Caps lost Green to injury midway through the second frame, and things generally spiraled downward from there.

Both the Sharks and the Kings were able to consistently get bodies to the net and create chances and second chances, and the Capitals surrendered 10 goals in the last five periods they played out west.

After allowing a combined total of just five goals during the life of their four-game winning streak, the Caps allowed five goals in each game of the trip. Washington has permitted five or more goals 11 times already this season; it gave up five or more goals only six times in the entire 2010-11 campaign.

The Caps flew home on the red-eye from Los Angeles, departing immediately after Monday night’s loss to the Kings. They’ll have Tuesday off to help erase jet lag, and they’ll hit the ice for Wednesday’s morning skate prior to taking on the Penguins. Wednesday’s game against the Penguins marks just the sixth time in the Capitals’ 37-year history that Washington plays a home game just two nights after returning from the final game of a West Coast trip.

Late Tuesday night, the Caps announced the recall of defenseman Tomas Kundratek from Hershey of the AHL. Kundratek, a 22-year-old native of the Czech Republic, was a third-round (90th overall) choice of the New York Rangers in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. The right-handed shooting, second-year pro was obtained from the Rangers in a straight up deal for minor league forward Francois Bouchard on Nov. 8, 2011.

After totaling two goals and 14 points in 77 AHL games in the Rangers’ chain, Kundratek tallied six goals and eight points in 21 games at Hershey. He will sport sweater No. 36 with Washington, digits last donned by forward Colin Forbes in the District back in 2005-06.


Wednesday’s game is the third meeting between the Caps and Pens this season. Washington took the opener of the season’s series between the two clubs in Pittsburgh on Oct. 12, a 3-2 overtime triumph in which Caps goaltender Tomas Vokoun made 39 saves.

Pittsburgh returned the favor at Verizon Center on Dec. 1, earning a 2-1 win over Washington in Dale Hunter’s second game behind the Capitals’ bench. The Caps are now 9-7-2 under Hunter’s direction.

The Capitals have successfully killed off 27 straight shorthanded situations on home ice, dating all the way back to a 6-3 loss to the New York Rangers on Nov. 25. That was the last home game in which former Caps coach Bruce Boudreau manned the bench for Washington.

The Penguins are struggling of late; they are lugging a five-game losing streak with them on their visit to Washington. The Pens absorbed a 5-1 home ice loss to the Senators on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. The Penguins have been outscored by a combined 18-6 during the life of their current losing streak.

Wednesday’s game opens up a three-game Southeast Division road trip for the Penguins. Pittsburgh visits Florida and Tampa Bay after it takes on the Capitals.

Pittsburgh is currently playing without four of its top players. Penguins center Sidney Crosby has appeared in just eight of the team’s 41 games this season as he is still suffering from concussion-like symptoms he originally sustained in a pair of collisions more than a year ago.

Center Jordan Staal has a knee injury that will keep him on the sidelines for a number of weeks and James Neal has a broken foot. Neal’s 21 goals this season are tops on the Penguins and fifth in the NHL.

Top defenseman Kris Letang has been out since late November with a broken nose and concussion. The Penguins managed to play well even without top pivots Crosby and Evgeni Malkin last season, but they’ve struggled without Letang in the lineup.

Pittsburgh is 12-6-4 with Letang in its lineup this season, and it is just 9-9 in the 18 games the defenseman has missed to date.

[Kipper]

By JON PALMIERI, STATS Editor Jan 10, 11:33 pm EST Puck Drop: 7:30 pm EST Wed Jan 11, 2012

Expected again to be among the league’s elite, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals instead find themselves struggling to remain in playoff position.

Losses and injuries are piling up for the Penguins, who hope to avoid their first six-game losing streak in nearly six years Wednesday night when they visit the Capitals.

Pittsburgh and Washington have become playoff mainstays with the Penguins qualifying for each of the last five postseasons, while the Capitals have won four straight Southeast Division titles.

This season, however, hasn’t gone as planned for either team.

Washington (21-17-2) has already made a coaching change, sits 10th in the Eastern Conference and is without leading scorer Nicklas Backstrom (head) and defenseman Mike Green (groin), but those problems pale in comparison to those of its bitter rival.

Besides playing most of this season without captain Sidney Crosby (concussion), the Penguins also are missing center Jordan Staal (knee), top defenseman Kris Letang (concussion) and forward Dustin Jeffrey (knee).
Pittsburgh (21-16-4) has dropped to fourth in the Atlantic Division and is mired in its first five-game losing streak in more than two years after falling 5-1 to Ottawa on Tuesday.

The Penguins have been held to one goal in each of their last four games, yielding 14 during that span. Pittsburgh hasn’t lost six in a row since a 10-game skid Jan. 6-23, 2006.

Marc-Andre Fleury had been scheduled to have Tuesday night off, but Brent Johnson was pulled early in the second period after allowing three goals on eight shots. Fleury, who finished with 13 saves, has won only two of his last eight starts (2-3-2) against the Capitals despite a 2.63 goals-against average.

The Penguins did get some good news Tuesday when leading goal scorer James Neal was able to play after suffering a foot injury in Saturday’s loss to New Jersey. It was originally thought Neal would be out “weeks.”
“When you lose that many in a row, it’s tough, but you’ve got to find a way to battle back and get back to where we were as a hockey team,” Neal said. “Every game is crucial, but tonight was a crucial game and we came out and put ourselves in a hole right away.”

Washington appeared to be back on track with four straight wins, but lost both stops on a two-game California road trip - 5-2 decisions to San Jose on Saturday and Los Angeles two nights later.

Marcus Johansson scored both goals against the Kings for the Capitals, who play their next four games at home, where they’ve outscored opponents 14-4 during a four-game winning streak.

Alex Ovechkin was held without a point on the two-game trip after tallying seven goals and four assists during a seven-game point streak. Washington is 2-12-1 this season when the two-time MVP fails to record a point.
“I don’t think it’s all about me. It’s all about us,” Ovechkin said after Monday’s loss. “We had a good start. We had emotion and we scored the first goal, but after that, we stopped playing and we made too many mistakes that cost us the game.”

While Ovechkin’s subpar season by his standards has been the focal point, team defense has been a bigger problem for the Caps. They have allowed five or more goals in 11 games already this season after doing so just six times in all of 2010-11.

The Capitals improved to 11-0-2 against the Penguins in 13 regular season meetings after a 3-2 victory Oct. 13, but Pittsburgh won 2-1 in Washington on Dec. 1.

Seven of the last 11 games between these teams have been decided by one goal.

[(419)BlackNGold]

Looks like Kippers doing his part to break the curse!

[(419)BlackNGold]

Pre-game music....

[(419)BlackNGold]

[Palmetto Steel]

Looks like Kippers doing his part to break the curse!

He said that's what he intended.... I'll do my part by watching the game on tv (for a change down here)....

.... Last game I watched on tv, they won....

[(419)BlackNGold]

[(419)BlackNGold]

He said that's what he intended.... I'll do my part by watching the game on tv (for a change down here)....

.... Last game I watched on tv, they won....

[(419)BlackNGold]

[Palmetto Steel]

..... Like your new avatar and sig, BTW.......

[(419)BlackNGold]

..... Like your new avatar and sig, BTW.......

thanks
Figured I wasn't gonna jinx anything at this point!

[Palmetto Steel]

thanks
Figured I wasn't gonna jinx anything at this point!

.... Still gonna have to make a few minor changes in a few weeks.....

[(419)BlackNGold]