Tonight's game marks the Caps' return to the Southeast Division which they lead by a whopping 13 points over the Florida Panthers. The Atlanta Thrashers (22-33-6), who visit tonight, are 31 points behind the Caps. But that doesn't mean the Caps can slouch at all.
The Caps lead the all-time series, 25-17-5-5, and leads at home, 15-7-3-1. That includes splitting the first two match-ups of this season (a 7-4 Thrash win on opening night, Oct. 10; and a 5-3 Caps' home victory on Nov. 26).
In fact, the Caps will play 13 of its remaining 21 games against Southeast Division foes, including four games against Atlanta. The Caps have played just 11 games against Southeast opponents (8-3-0), including four straight wins. Every other team in the league has played at least 13 games in their own division.
Michal Neuvirth apparently will start tonight with a back-to-back looming Saturday in Boston and Sunday at home against the Panthers. Neuvirth's only start this season was a 5-1 victory in Tampa on Feb. 14.
Tonight also marks the return of Viktor Kozlov, who is expected to join Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin on the top line. That probably means Alex Semin and Sergei Fedorov will play on the second line together, unless Semin is scratched as I proposed yesterday.
February 26, 2009
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