Caps (10-4-0, 20 points) at Rangers (7-6-1, 15 points)
What » Game #15
Where » Madison Square Garden
When » 7:30 p.m.
TV » VERSUS
Radio » WFED-1500 AM
Live from Madison Square Garden, the world’s coolest spot to have asbestos tiles fall on your head. Okay, they’ve allegedly fixed that little problem which led to a canceled NBA game last week between the Knicks and the Orlando Magic. And a renovation of this grand old arena is on the way soon. It needs a facelift, for sure, but the atmosphere is still second-to-none when the home teams are going well.
Tonight, it’s the Caps and the New York Rangers in a game that starts at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on VERSUS. Morning skate just finished. David Steckel was on the ice with assistant coach Bob Woods so he appears to be the healthy scratch tonight. Defenseman Tom Poti skated hard, too, after his teammates had departed. So looks like he’s not quite ready to return from that lower-body injury. Michal Neuvirth is back in goal, according to Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. He also left the ice first with Braden Holtby staying on for extra work. Look for Matt Hendricks to center the fourth line if Steckel is sidelined. D.J. King appears to be in the lineup, too. The Caps’ enforcer should get a bout in tonight with Rangers big man Derek Boogaard. Let’s just say the two are familiar with each other from their days in the Western Conference.
Forward Brooks Laich appears set to go, too – though Boudreau wouldn’t say for sure. Laich didn’t play in the third period of the Philadelphia game on Sunday with an upper-body injury.
“Fine. Why? I played last game,” a coy Laich said. “I took a day off. Got some rest.”
When the Post’s Katie Carrera pointed out that Laich isn’t exactly known for skipping optional skates this early in the season: “Well, so? Now you’re all over me if I do take one?” Laich said. “It’s a long year…games are the most important thing.”
This was a strictly tongue-in-cheek conversation – though Laich wasn’t exactly spilling details about what happened to him on Sunday. I watched the CSN replay and couldn’t see any specific incident on Laich’s final two shifts where he was struggling physically. But Boudreau told us yesterday that Laich was ordered by team medical personnel not to go back on the ice on Sunday. And he also made it clear that telling Laich he couldn’t practice Monday wasn’t much fun, either.
As for the game tonight, the Caps actually have pretty decent numbers against Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. He is 9-5 against them in 16 career starts. But his goals-against average is 3.01 and his save percentage is only .897. Even in the Stanley Cup playoff series two years ago between these two teams he gave up 19 goals in seven games with a 3.00 goals-against average. Not exactly superstar numbers. But you could have fooled the Caps. Lundqvist is one of the league’s best at controlling rebounds. He also has one career regular-season shutout against Washington and another in the playoffs.
“He’s playing really deep in his net so you’ve got to shoot the puck usually. If you hit the corner you should score,” said Caps forward Tomas Fleischmann. “He doesn’t give up any rebounds. If you get one that’s really rare and you’ve got to put it in.”
“I don’t know because I think he’s a very good goalie. He’s not easy to beat,” Laich said. “I think in the games we have done well our power play has done well against them and that’s usually a determining factor in these games…But anything he can see he’s going to save. He’s a top-notch goalie.”
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