Game #16
Caps (8-3-4, 20 points) at Florida Panthers (5-7-1, 11 points)
First meeting of the year between these two Southeast Division rivals. They’ll make up for it when they both fly to D.C. right after tonight’s game for another one at Verizon Center tomorrow night. I’ll be on the radio pregame show with Jonathan Warner on WFED-1500 at 6:30 p.m. Saturday so check it out.
Caps still trying to shake off a tough 3-2 loss to New Jersey on Wednesday. Penalties were their downfall in that game – four in the third period alone. From the Caps official web site – coach Bruce Boudreau says defenseman Brian Pothier is back in the lineup and John Erskine is out. Erskine returned from a hand injury Wednesday, but Boudreau said he likely will get back in the lineup Saturdat night. Tyler Sloan again will play forward as Eric Fehr (ribs) sits out. Alex Ovechkin didn’t participate in the morning skate down in Sunrise this morning and will likely miss both games this weekend. After that he has time to re-evaluate. Caps don’t play again until next Wednesday at home against the Islanders.
Florida is on a bit of a roll, winning three games in a row after goalie Tomas Vokoun posted back-to-back shutouts against St. Louis and Carolina. He stopped 66 shots combined in those two victories. In his career against Washington, Vokoun is 7-9 in 16 starts. But he has a .930 save percentage against the Caps and a 2.32 goals-against average so…yeah, not really his fault that record isn’t better.
