10-28-08 Washington Capitals vs. Nashville Predators, 7:30 p.m.

Washington Capitals

Record-4-3-1

The Caps enter this game coming off of a 6-5 OT win over the Dallas Stars. The big news for this game against Nashville is that reigning MVP Alex Ovechkin won't be in the line-up. Ovechkin is back in Russia to visit his ill grandfather. With Ovechkin out, it's Alexander Semin's chance to show he can score with other teams top defenceman playing against him. The Caps are going to need Semin to keep up the scoring pace with Ovechkin out. It will also be interesting to see how Nicklas Backstrom performs with out Ovechkin. This is Ovechkin's 2nd game he'll have missed in his 4 year career.

Nashville Predators

Record-4-4

The Nashville Predators are coming off of a 5-4 win over the Los Angels Kings. The last time the Kings visited Verizon Center was Dec. 7, 2005. The Preds won that contest, 5-2. The Caps and Preds are different teams then that last meeting, so it should be an interesting game. The Preds will be without Russian superstar Alexander Radulov this game, and maybe for forever. Radulov bolted to Russia this offseason when the KHL started up. The problem is that Radulov was still under contract with the Predators.


Washington's top 3 goals

1. Alexander Semin-7 goals
2. Mike Green-4 goals
3. Sergei Fedorov-3 goals

Washington's top 3 assists
1. Alexander Semin-7 assist
2. Michael Nylander-6 assist
3. Sergei Fedorov-4 assist


Washington's top 3 points

1. Alexander Semin-14 points
2. Michael Nylander-8 points
3. Sergei Fedorov- 7 point

Washington Capitals line-up

Brooks Laich(21) - Nicklas Backstrom(19) - Viktor Kozlov(25)
David Steckel(39) - Sergei Fedorov(91) - Alex Semin(28)
Tomas Fleischman(14) - Michael Nylander(92) - Chris Clark(17)
Donald Brashear(87) - Boyd Gordon(15) - Matt Bradley(10)

Shaone Morrisonn(26) - Mike Green(52)
Tyler Sloan(89) - Jeff Schultz(55)
John Erskine(4) - Milan Jurcina(23)

Brent Johnson(1)
Jose Theodore(60)

Players to watch- Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom

Nashville Predators line-up

27-Hornqvist, 19-Arnott, 71-Dumont
28-Jones, 11-Legwand, 10-Erat
29-Ward, 14-Bonk, 25-Smithson
22-Tootoo, 12-Nichol, 74-Tarnasky

6-Weber, 20-Suter
2-Hamhuis, 7-de Vries
4-Koistinen, 5-Zanon

35-Rinne
39-Ellis

Players to watch- Martin Erat, Shea Weber

Key to Caps victory

The Caps defence needs to be a little better then they were against Dallas. The offence seems to be on track, but the defence needs to step up without Tom Poti. Poti is the veteran, and this defence needs to play good without him. The key to playing good defence is to not take penalty's. The Caps aren't good at all on the PK, 78% is one of the worst in the league. So stay out the box, and clear the puck out the zone.

Versus sucks

The game will not be shown on T.V. at all because Versus holds the rights to the game, but they aren't showing it. They choose to show the Philly, Atlanta game. Here's a link to e-mail Versus.

feedback@versus.com