Caps Looking to Survive and Advance

Most everybody suited up for today's optional practice and all attended a noon meeting that presumably was a video-based study. And there's no doubt what was on everybody's mind: how to win one more game against the New York Rangers.

"I think continuing to do what we've been doing," Eric Fehr said. "Not get satisfied and not sit back. We gotta keep going after these guys and playing the way we did in the last couple games."

"The Rangers have a really good goaltending and defense, so you have to crash the net and find the loose pucks there," Tomas Fleischmann added.

The best way to accomplish those goals is to be ahead after the first period -- the formula for all of the Caps' wins over the Rangers.

"It's important to get a lead on these guys. If they get a lead on you, they can really sit back and trap you up," Fehr said. "So it's important for us to get a lead and continue to play our game and force them to get out of their element a little bit."

"You get the first goal, it's momentum, you're already up by one; the other team has to fight to get back to get even," Chris Clark said.

Boyd Gordon, like all of his teammates, know that the Rangers are going to throw the proverbial kitchen sink at the Caps and it'll be up to the home team to take control early.

"We want to come out with a good start tomorrow and go from there," he said. "We're expecting their best game of the year and we gotta come out and play our best game of the year. But I think a good start's always important."