Gameday Preview: Caps vs Lightning

Welcome back! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas or, like me, some good Chinese food and a movie or two. It's time to get back into the swing of things - and what better way to do that than with a home game against the lovely Lightning of Tampa Bay? Can't think of a one.

Who: Washington Capitals vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Where: Verizon Center
When: Wednesday, December 26, 7 pm

Broadcast Info: CSN, 3WT Radio; SunSports

Media Notes:
Caps' Site
NHL.com
Washington Post
Washington Times
St. Petersburg Times

As the Caps near the halfway mark of the season it's not an exaggeration to say that just about every game becomes do or die, and with six games in the next eleven nights, they need to get things going now. The word "momentum" seems to be missing from their vocabulary for whatever reason, be it in between goals or in between games, and the last thing you want to see as the second half of the season looms is a lack of momentum. You want to be picking up speed, picking up points, and picking up intensity.

The Caps can start tonight as they host division rivals Tampa Bay. The gruesome threesome - Lecavalier, St. Louis and Richards - just love feasting on the Caps. On the flip side, our own Russian duo seems to like scoring on the Bolts (as does Dave Steckel), and games between these teams tend to be on the high-scoring side.

Right now the Lightning sit three points ahead of the Caps, further representing the wonder that is the Southeast Division in the basement of the East and struggling with inconsistency of their own. The Bolts have a tendency to extend their streaks a bit longer, dropping five or six in a row before storming back with a handful of wins, while the Caps have been employing the win three lose three strategy thus far.

Both teams entered the holiday break having lost four of their last five. Neither is particularly adept at achieving balanced scoring. Goaltenders for each team have struggled off and on at various points in the season. In other words, we're gearing up for yet another thrilling Southeast Showdown sure to keep you on the edge of your seats.

Recently we here in the Cheap Seats had a somewhat bizarre epiphany that Vincent Lecavalier and Beauty and the Beast's Gaston bear a striking resemblance to one another. No comment on whether this epiphany grew out of temporary sleep deprivation or not...but what follows is the musical result.

Vinny and Ovie
(to the tune of "Gaston"...with apologies to Disney)

Vinny's slicker than most
Even quicker than most
And a neck so incredibly thick Vinny boasts

For there's few men on ice half as manly
Perfect, a pure paragon!
Just a few years since hoisting Lord Stanley
Every man in the league knows to watch when he's on

He can deke to the right
Give the d-men a fright
And then pass the puck off to the midget in flight
As a twosome, yes, they're quite intimidating
Vinny's a true superstar!

He'll drop the gloves
Or dent the twine
In Tampa he's god and the rest are all swine...

But there's one player here
Who can give Vinny fear
Just a certain young Russian who grins ear to ear

He plows through guys with no second glancing
You can see he's got power to spare
Nothing stops him when he starts advancing
The puck's in the net and his fist's in the air!

Vinny ought to beware
Ovie's setting his glare
As he scores goals at will and he does it with flair
He's especially good at the celebrating
Millions of points for Ovie!

Vinny may have been the king of the South
Long before Ovie stepped on our shore
But now that he's here number 8's here to stay
And you know that he's going to score!

No one shoots like Ovie
Makes those beauts like Ovie
Then goes tearing around on a segway like he
Ovie's giving Lecavalier cause to fear him
My what a guy...Ovie!