Caps (4-0-0, 8 points) vs. Panthers (3-1-0, 6 points)
What – Game #5
Where –Verizon Center
When – 7 p.m.
TV – CSN HD
Radio – WFED-1500 AM
The Caps get a visit from the new-look Florida Panthers on Tuesday night. Only 10 of 22 players currently on the roster played a minute last season. Yet that group, which includes former Caps Matt Bradley, Tomas Fleischmann and Jose Theodore, is actually off to a good start. The Panthers dropped seven goals on Tampa Bay on Monday night – five of them on the power play and another short-handed. Yikes! Florida leads the NHL with a power-play converting at 32%.
“Pretty quick. They made some good plays, good adjustments to what Tampa was doing,” Boudreau said. “They had their mojo going last night, for sure.”
Caps will have to go from last year’s notes with so few players back. They also haven’t seen goalie Jacob Markstrom, the promising 21-year-old prospect who is expected to make his first NHL start. Nicklas Backstrom will have some inside info – he trains with Markstrom in the summer. Both are from Gavle, Sweden. Markstrom’s lone NHL game was Jan. 23, 2011 against the New Jersey Devils when he came on in relief of Scott Clemmensen and stopped 12 of 14 shots in a 5-2 loss. Tough test for the rookie tonight.
Injury updates: Not much. John Erskine has not yet been cleared to practice – though Bruce Boudreau hopes he will meet with team doctors this week. That usually happens on game days so we’ll check back tonight if he sees Dr. Ben Shaffer. Erskine had shoulder surgery in May. Boudreau said the Caps have yet to talk about whether Erskine would need a rehabilitation game or two with AHL Hershey.
Meanwhile, nothing new on Jay Beagle. He hasn’t practiced since being knocked out in a fight with Arron Asham in Pittsburgh last week. Haven’t seen him around the dressing room, either, to ask.
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