First off, congratulations to Nicklas Backstrom, who was selected to the NHL YoungStars game in Atlanta. It is a honor, but one has to wonder how much of one. This year's YoungStars game has been reduced to a 3-on-3 event that is part of the Skills Competition. Previously, it was a 4-on-4, two period game.
Word from Tarik is that Nylander is done for the season. He has been playing through a rotator cuff injury, and after taking yesterday off from practice, it's been revealed that he will have surgery to repair it. He'll be gone 3-6 months.
With Nylander and Clark out, Corey has the line combos for tonight's game.
Ovechkin - Backstrom - KozlovFleischmann - Gordon - Semin
Laing - Steckel - Bradley
Brashear - Laich - Pettinger
If the Caps were a playoff team right now, they'd be hunting for a trade. But at only 7 pts. out of the last spot, it still might be worth it to pick up some talent for the rest of the season.
Tonight's matchup between the Caps and Sens is all about which Caps team will show up. Will it be the Caps who have taken 3 out of 3 against Ottawa this season? Or the Caps that can't beat the Panthers? And since this is the last meeting between these teams this season, the Caps will be looking for the series sweep. All three of their games have been high scoring affairs, so expect a lot of goals tonight. Here's some pre-game thought from:
Japers' Rink
Bleatings from a Caps Nut
The Peerless Prognosticator
And lastly, Mike Vogel at Dump 'n Chase has some great quotes he's collected lately revolving around Shaone Morrisonn. Also, blog au poivre has some more musings on the Ovechkin contract signing. Sounds like a thumbs up to me.
