10-16-08 Washington Capitals at. Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m.

Washington Capitals

Record-2-1

The Caps are coming off of one of the most impressive wins in franchise history. They held the Vancouver Canucks to 10 shots, breaking the previous record of 11. The Caps have rebounded well after an embarrassing loss to the Atlanta Thrashers in the opening game of the season. Pittsburgh will be the first team the Caps face this year that made it to the playoffs last year, so this is the true test. The Caps have also lost 10 of the last 12 facing Pittsburgh, so you know the players want to beat this team. One problem for the Caps is that they will be without Viktor Kozlov for the next couple of weeks, and Donald Brashear may not play tonite. Pittsburgh could be trouble if Brashear is out, because Pittsburgh has both Matt Cooke, and Eric Godard.

Pittsburgh Penguins

Record-2-1-1

Pittsburgh is coming off of a 3-2 OT win against the Philadelphia Flyers. Pittsburgh may have a winning record, but to my eyes they haven't looked as good as they can be. They don't look like they are clicking yet. Hopefully they don't play to their potential tonite. Pittsburgh's superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have combined total of 4 points this year. That's not up to their standards, but you know they are always dangerous and you know that they will be ready to play tonite. The Penguins defence is an area of suspect early on in the season. With Ryan Whitney and Sergei Gonchar out with injury's the Pittsburgh defence is a big are of concern.


Washington's top 3 goals

1. Mike Green-3 goals
2. Alexander Semin-3 goals
3. Alexander Ovechkin-2 goals

Washington's top 3 assists
1. Alexander Semin-3 assist
2. Michael Nylander-3 assist
3. Mike Green-2 assist


Washington's top 3 points

1. Alexander Semin-6 points
2. Mike Green-5 points
3. Michael Nylander- 4 point
Washington Capitals line-up

Alex Ovechkin(8) - Nicklas Backstrom(19) - Chris Clark(17)
Brooks Laich(21) - Michael Nylander(92) - Alex Semin(28)
Tomas Fleischman(14) - Sergei Fedorov(91) - Eric Fehr(16)
David Steckel(39) - Boyd Gordon(15) - Matt Bradley(10)

Shaone Morrisonn(26) - Mike Green(52)
Tom Poti(3) - Jeff Schultz(55)
John Erskine(4) - Milan Jurcina(23)

Jose Theodore(60)
Brent Johnson(1)

Players to watch: Brooks Laich, Alex Ovechkin


Pittsburgh Penguins line-up

Pascal Dupuis(9) - Sidney Crosby(87) - Miroslav Satan(81)
Jordan Staal(11) - Evgeni Malkin(71) - Petr Sykora(17)
Ruslan Fedotenko(26) - Max Talbot(25) - Tyler Kennedy(48)
Matt Cooke(24) - Michael Zigomanis(15) - Eric Godard(28)

Brooks Orpik(44) - Kris Letang(58)
Hal Gill(2) - Rob Scuderi(4)
Mark Eaton(7) - Alex Goligoski(13)

Marc-Andre Fleury(29)
Dany Sabourin(30)

Players to watch: Pascal Dupuis, Tyler Kennedy


Key to Caps victory

Do whatever you did against Vancouver. The Caps are going to have to control the game. We are going to have to have the puck for 65% of the time. I expect the 2nd line to have a big night, and to be a puck-possession line. I've said this in every game before, and I'll say it again. Stay out of the penalty box. The Caps PK right now is at 78%, that's not good at all. So stay out the box and it won't be a problem. Crosby and Malkin are to good of players to give them an advantage.

Prediction- 6-4 Caps win.


Highlights from last years game



Fights





Get pumped up

Expectations.

As you can tell I've changed the blog some. I'm learning how to make it better, and I'm trying to show more Caps pride. I've added the picture at the top, and the "Weagle" logo as the background. I also changed the side bar. The side bar is now red, and has lots of extra feature's now.

The Summer is going by very slow, I don't think an off-season has every gone by so slow. Everybody is already signed and nothing needs done. Now we wait till camp starts. In the years past the summer's didn't take this long, but this summer is different. The team has great expectations this year, the fans know it, the players know it, and the coaches know it. But what exactly are the expectations or goals for this year. Coming into this past year the goal was to make the playoffs. The team did it, maybe not the way they planned but they still made it. So should that be the goal again this year?......No. This team was not satisfied with a 1st round exist from the playoffs. This team wants more then that, and the fans want more then that too.

Take a look at the Pittsburgh Penguins. In 06-07 they made the playoffs with a very young, and inexperienced team. They were facing the Ottawa Senators, a much older team who had been in the playoffs before. Pittsburgh went down 3-1 in the series(sound familiar?). They ended up losing the series 4-1. They were knocked out the playoffs in the 1st round, they only played 5 games, but those 5 games went a long way. Coming into this years playoffs they were the #2 seed and they made it all the way to the Stanley Cup final. They didn't win the Cup, but they made it all the way to the finals. Those 5 games meant so much to that team.

Now back to the Caps. Coming into this years playoffs the Caps were a very young, and inexperienced team, just like Pittsburgh was 1 year ago. The Caps were up agaisnt the Philadelphia Flyers, a team that was much older and had been in the playoffs before, just like Ottawa 1 year ago. The Caps went down 3-1 in the series, just like Pittsburgh did, but the Caps didn't lose game 5. The Caps came back and took the series to OverTime in game 7. The Caps only played 7 playoff games this year. 2 more then Pittsburgh did 1 year ago. If Pittsburgh can make it to the Stanley Cup finals with 5 playoff games, then why can't the Caps win the Cup? Those extra 2 games will go a long way. I think the expecations this year are HUGE. The goal this year should be to win the Stanley Cup. Plain and simple, win it all.