Before we get into things, a congratulations goes out to coach Bruce Boudreau, who has been "selected for induction into the American Hockey League Hall of Fame as the Class of 2009." Not only has he been a great coach, he was also a premier player in the league.
Now tonight the Caps face the Wild for the last game of their 4 game road trip (5 if you count the OT loss at Jersey). So far the Caps have resembled a beaten up old car, looking serviceable early, but losing more and more pieces as the trip goes on. Tonight the Caps will be without the services, again, of Mike Green, Sergei Fedorov, and Alex Semin. As Tarik reported yesterday, Laich, Clark, and Gordon all left yesterday's practice early, and received treatment for various minor injuries. But they will all be playing tonight. So that leaves 5 defensemen and a group of forwards that has Gordon on the 2nd line and Clark relegated to 4th line duty.
We all know that the Wild have one of the stingiest defenses in the world. They lead the league in goals against, giving up only 2 a game on average. But if you're only going to get two from them, you better do it early, because if you don't, you're done. Japers tells us why:
If the Caps are going to have any chance tonight, they'll likely have to take an early lead and protect it - the Wild are 4-0-0 when leading after the first period and 6-0-1 when leading after two. In fact, throw in last season and Jacques Lemaire's squad is 27-3-4 with a lead after twenty minutes and 38-0-5 when ahead after forty, and since the lockout, they're 67-11-6 and 90-4-7, respectively.
They also have the top penalty killing in the league. So while tonight's game doesn't look to be much of a thriller, the Caps have to work hard to get a couple quick and dirty goals, then try and control the game from there. Because if they let the Wild do the same, it will be over by the end of the 2nd.
