Welcome everyone to tonight's matchup between the Capitals and Panthers. Coming into tonight's game, the Caps sit 4th in the Southeast with 45 points, while the Panthers sit 3rd with 46 points. It's of note though that the Caps have 2 games in hand.
Home ice doesn't look to hold much advantage to the Caps, as they are 11-11-1 at home. Florida is equally unimpressive on the road with a record of 12-12-1. Both teams revolve around a star scorer. For the Caps Alex Ovechkin leads the team with 35 goals and 57 points, and is tied for third on the team with 22 assists. Showing off a well-rounded game, he also leads the Caps with a plus-8. Florida's Olli Jokinen leads his team with 22 assists, 22 goals, and 44 points. But he is a minus-8. Both Olli and Ovie are generous with their shots, as Ovie leads the league with 243 shots on goal, while Olli is fourth with 203.
But tonight will be all about secondary scorers. Washington comes with Mike Green, Alex Semin, and Nicklas Backstrom. Green is riding a 3-game goal streak, as is Semin, who seems to have returned to form after an rough start to the season, which included a leg injury and a tailbone injury. Backstrom comes in with 9 points in his last 9 games. On the other side of the puck, Nathan Horton has 8 pts. in his last 11, while Stephen Weiss has 5 in his last 11.
The Caps haven't fared too well against Florida so far this season, going 1-2-1, with every game decided by one goal. As to the reason behind this, The Peerless admits;
We really don
