Tonight's Tuesday night Capitals blackout is brought to you by the wonderful people at Versus. Fortunately I'll be here doing my best to provide a running commentary on the game.
The Caps will still be without a handful of players, as Erskine, Poti, Fedorov, Semin, and Green are all out tonight. In fact, looking at the defensive pairings, Milan Jurcina and Shaone Morrisonn are the only two left from the opening night lineup. Graham Mink has been called back up by the Caps, and will be skating on the fourth line tonight. Theodore will get the start between the pipes.
For the Panthers, David Booth, Corey Stillman, and Nathan Horton will all be out tonight. Booth leads the team with 12 goals, and is tied for the team lead with 14 points. Horton is tied for 3rd on the team with 13 points. While they will be missed, the close numbers note that Florida has a balanced attack, so the Caps need to stay sharp. Besides Stephen Weiss, the other top scorers from the Panthers that are playing tonight all play the blueline, so the Capitals can't afford to give them too much space at the points. While the Panthers sit in 3rd in the Southeast, they sit only 5 points out of 8th in the East with 2 games in hand on Carolina. They're not great, but they're not to be overlooked either. Craig Anderson has been playing well of late, and will get the start in net for Florida. In his last 6 starts, he has 3 wins and 3 overtime losses, as well as 2 shutouts.
While the Caps are somewhat shorthanded, it isn't new for them, and they won't want to suffer their first home regulation loss of the season. And since Anderson shut out the Rangers in Florida's last game, making 37 saves, he'll be due to let a few softies in tonight. And all that adds up to a Capitals W.
