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Thursday, 13 October 2011 10:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Capitals.

When and where: 7 p.m. EDT, Consol Energy Center.

TV: Root Sports, CSN-Washington, NHL Network (United States outside the Pittsburgh and Washington markets).

Record: 2-0-0, 4 points. The Capitals are in third place in the Eastern Conference and first place in the Southeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Jason Chimera, 3 points (3 goals).

Last Game: 6-5 home shootout win against the Lightning, Monday. Chimera had two goals in regulation for the Capitals.

Last Game against the Penguins: 1-0 road win, Feb. 21. Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves.

Capitals Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Mike Knuble (above). In his last 22 games against the Penguins, he has 22 points.

Ex-Penguins on the Capitals: None.

Ex-Capitals on the Penguins: Matt Cooke, LW; Brent Johnson, G.

Useless Capitals Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The Capitals franchise is the only one-time member of the NHL's old Patrick Division which has never won a Stanley Cup title. The Rangers (1927, 1932, 1940, 1994), Flyers (1974, 1975), Islanders (1980, 1981, 1982, 1983), Flames (1989), Penguins (1991, 1992, 2009) and Devils (1995, 2000, 2003) have at least one title.

Best Capitals Video We Could Find: We're not quite sure what's the most impressive part of this video. Former Capitals defenseman Al Iafrate's blistering slap shot or his comb-over mullet:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (3-0-0, 2.60 GAA, .911 SV%) for the Penguins. The Capitals have not announced if Tomas Vokoun (1-0-0, 4.62 GAA, .821 SV%) or Michal Neuvirth (1-0-0, 2.89 GAA, .903 SV%) will start.

Injuries: For the Penguins, center Evgeni Malkin ("lower body") and defenseman Brook Orpik (abdominal) are doubtful . Defenseman Roberto Bortuzzo (knee), Boris Valabik (knee), center Sidney Crosby (concussion), left winger Dustin Jeffrey (knee) and right winger Nick Petersen (concussion) are on injured reserve. For the Capitals, goaltender Michal Neuvirth ("lower body") is day to day. Defensemen John Erskine (shoulder) and Tom Poti (groin) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins did not practice with a full squad yesterday. Their primary lines and defensive pairings against the Panthers Sunday were:

Steve Sullivan - Mark Letestu - James Neal
Chris Kunitz - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke - Joe Vitale - Pascal Dupuis
Steve MacIntyre - Richard Park - Craig Adams

Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Deryk Engelland - Kris Letang
Ben Lovejoy - Matt Niskanen

-The Capitals' line combinations in practice yesterday were:

Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer
Alexander Semin - Marcus Johansson - Mike Knuble
Jason Chimera - Brooks Laich - Joel Ward - D.J. King
Matt Hendricks - Jeff Halpern - Jay Beagle - Mathieu Perreault

-Their defensive pairings against the Lightning Monday were:

Karl Alzner - John Carlson
Roman Hamrlik - Mike Green
Jeff Schultz - Dennis Wideman

Notes:

-In terms of regular season play, the Penguins haven't beaten the Capitals in Pittsburgh since 2007.

-"Even though we've been perfect, we haven't been perfect." - Craig Adams on the Penguins' penalty kill.

-Meet the new third line. (PG+)

-The Penguins are more than used to winning without their stars.

-Niskanen has appeared in 299 career games.

-Kunitz has 99 career points with the Penguins.

-Staal has 96 career goals.

-Park has 96 career goals.

-Neuvirth appeared in three games against the Penguins last season. He went 2-0-1 with a 0.65 goals against average, .977 save percentage and two shutouts.

-Assuming he plays, Hamrlik will appear in his 1,314th career NHL game. That will tie former Whalers/Devils/Rangers/Thrashers forward Bobby Holik's career record for Czech players.

-Both teams will wear commemorative patches with the logo of the KHL's Lokomotiv Yaroslavl franchise (right). The jerseys will be autographed and auctioned off with all proceeds being donated to families of victims involved with last month's plane crash which took the lives of most of the team.

-The Penguins will wear their white jerseys.

-The Penguins will wear their normal black jerseys. We regret the error.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m.

(Photo: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Comments (3)

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written by Louder_Is_Best, October 13, 2011 - 11:07 AM

So is there a chance that this Crosby guy might play?

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written by kpa42, October 13, 2011 - 11:20 AM

I doubt Sid plays. Just cleared for contact today, so I would think they continue their patient pace and get him contact in practice for a week or two, see how it goes, and get him in a game vs. a non-heated rival to start.

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written by Boom Shaka, October 13, 2011 - 12:51 PM

Man, I'd love to get my hands on one of those jerseys!

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