Saturday, December 16, 2006

Gameday Preview: Caps vs. Flyers

Who: Your Nation's Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers
Where: Verizon Center
601 F Street NW
Washington, DC 20004
When: Saturday, December 16, 2006, 7:00 pm

Broadcast Info: CSN, WTEM 980 AM; CSN, WYSP

Media Notes:
WashingtonCaps.com
PhiladelphiaFlyers.com
NHL.com
Washington Post
Washington Times
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Daily News

2006-07 Season Series: Caps 2-0-0, Flyers 0-2-0

2006-07 Standings: Caps 14-10-7, 35 points - 2nd in division, 7th in conference; Flyers 8-19-4, 20 points - 5th in division, 15th in conference

Last Game: December 9 in Philadelphia, Caps won 5-3
- This game turned out to be much more entertaining as it went on, although not in a good way if you're a Caps fan. The Caps took a 2-0 lead early in the second period only to see the Flyers jump back into the game with 2 goals of their own. They then traded goals to knot the score at 3 after 40 minutes.
- Brooks Laich scored his first career shorthanded goal less than two minutes into the second period, giving him his second goal of the season and his second in 3 games.
- The Caps were finally able to put this one away off a goal by Bryan Muir, followed by a power play goal by Matt Pettinger in the last minute to put it out of reach.
- Ovechkin finished the night with a goal and 2 assists, while Chris Clark had a goal and an assist.

Things to Look for:
- The Caps have alternated wins and losses over their last 5 games but have gone 6-2 in their last 8 games. The Flyers, on the other hand, come in to tonight's game on a 5-game losing skid which ties their season high. Among those losses - an 8-4 mauling by the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night.
- The heroics of Ovechkin in last night's win aside, the Caps have seen a number of solid individual efforts over the last few games, most notably the recent play of Brooks Laich and Boyd Gordon. Their names may not be well known outside of the DC area, but both have been playing exceptionally well of late and have been consistently doing the little (and big) things needed to get a win. It's starting to show on the scoresheet, too, as Gordon and Laich have combined for 3 shorthanded goals already this season.
- Assorted stats and goodies: Washington remains atop the league in first period goals with 37; The Caps have the 8th most shorthanded goals in the league with 5; the Flyers have allowed an verage of 3.81 goals per game, 30th in the league.

This is a somewhat abbreviated gameday preview - see the last Caps-Flyers gameday preview for nicknames. My brain is far too fried for back-to-back games this weekend...

Possible Lineup for the Caps
Forwards:
8-Ovechkin, 9-Zubrus, 17-Clark
28-Semin, 24-Beech, 18-Pettinger
16-Sutherby, 15-Gordon, 27-Clymer
87-Brashear, 21-Laich, 38-Klepis

Defensemen:
2-Pothier, 26-Morrisonn
4-Erskine, 44-Eminger
6-Heward, 52-Green

Goaltenders:
1-Johnson, 37-Kolzig


Possible Lineup for the Flyers
Forwards:
12-Gagne, 27-Robitaille, 22-Knuble
19-Calder, 20-Umberger, 24-Kapanen
29-Fedoruk, 11-Potulny, 9-Ruzicka
55-Eager, 36-Ellison, 15-Dimitrakos

Defensemen:
2-Hatcher, 45-Picard
44-Pitkanen, 46-Timonen
6-Jones, 43-Jonsson

Goaltenders:
30-Niittymaki, 35-Houle

2 comments:

FS said...

Stop slacking on nicknames

Anonymous said...

Read in the Post Heward took a puck in the chin and required ten more stitches. He's gonna look like a Gary Cheever mask before long.