Caps (18-5-6, 42 points) at Tampa Bay Lightning (11-9-8, 30 points)
Welcome back, Alex Ovechkin. The Caps hardly missed your 18 goals over the last two-and-a-half games. Ovechkin’s two-game suspension is up and he returns to the ice tonight against the Lightning. In his absence, Washington scored 14 goals, including an eight-goal outburst Saturday at Philadelphia. The Caps are 6-2 overall without Ovechkin in the lineup this season. He also missed six games with an upper-body injury. We’ll see tonight if he has any lingering affects from last Monday’s knee-on-knee hit that led to his suspension. Ovechkin was wearing only a neoprene sleeve on his right knee during practice last week and seemed close to full speed entering the weekend.
It’s the first meeting between the two teams this season. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau has never lost to Tampa in 11 tries and one more win would set a franchise record for consecutive wins against one opponent. Washington beat the New York Islanders 11 times in a row between March 12, 1998 and March 15, 2000. Boudreau’s team has also won five games in a row – the only NHL team this season with a pair of win streaks of at least five games – and sits atop the Eastern Conference. That injury list is getting shorter, too. Defenseman Tom Poti has returned to the lineup. Teammate Shaone Morrisonn (concussion) may join him tonight. Mike Knuble (broken finger) could be back this weekend.
Tampa is in third place in the Southeast Division. Second-year pro Steven Stamkos – the No. 1 overall pick in the 2008 draft – is having a great season with 17 goals and 13 assists. He is tied for the team lead with 30 points along with veteran winger Martin St. Louis. The Lightning need more from center Vincent Lecavalier, long the face of the franchise. He has just 24 points – fourth on the team. But if Lecavalier gets going this looks like a playoff team. Top draft pick Victor Hedman – an 18-year-old Swedish defenseman chosen No. 2 overall in the 2009 draft – scored his first NHL goal last week and has eight points. Winger Ryan Malone has 16 goals with 10 assists. Meanwhile, local product Jeff Halpern – a Potomac, Md. native and former Caps captain – has five goals and five assists.
Washington is without forward Matt Bradley tonight, His wife is expecting a baby any minute. Bradley is said to be okay physically after Saturday’s punch to the face by Philadelphia’s Dan Carcillo, who earned himself a four-game suspension. Expect Semyon Varlamov in goal for Washington and Mike Smith for Tampa.
