Caps (16-14-1, 33 points) vs. Predators (17-11-4, 38 points)
What – Game #32
Where – Verizon Center
When – 7 p.m.
TV – CSN HD
Radio – WFED-1500 AM
The Capitals return home to Verizon Center to face a familiar foe. At least the Nashville Predators have become one in recent years. This will be the fourth game between the two teams since training camp, including a pair of preseason games and a 3-1 Predators victory at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on Nov. 15. That one hurt after the Caps blew a 1-0 lead in the final four minutes and watched Colin Wilson score the game-winner with 25 seconds left.
One plus: No Pekka Rinne tonight. The star goalie will sit in favor of backup goalie Anders Lindback. Considering how well Rinne played against Washington in the earlier regular-season meeting I can’t imagine they are too broken up about that. Rinne, after all, was named the NHL’s second star of the week on Monday after winning three games last week.
“He was a Vezina [Trophy] candidate last year, but he might be still the most underrated goalie maybe in the league,” Caps forward Brooks Laich said of Rinne.
The two teams have met five times since the start of the 2008-09 season with Washington winning four of the five in overtime or a shootout. Nashville has won seven of its last 10 games – all of those contests decided by a single goal. So it’s be a shock to see anything other than a 2-1, 3-2 final tonight.
Big night for Caps veteran forward Mike Knuble. He will play in NHL game No. 1,000 – something only 268 other NHL players have done. He will be the second-oldest player to reach 1,000 at 39 years, 169 days. Only Grant Ledyard, himself a former Caps player, was older at 40 years, 23 days. Knuble is the sixth player to reach 1,000 games in a Washington uniform. Phil Housley, Adam Oates, Calle Johansson, Dale Hunter and Andrew Cassels were the others.
“Today’s a fun day and a day you should enjoy as a player,” said Knuble, who will have his mom, his brother, his high-school hockey coach, several friends and his in-laws in attendance.
Knuble’s teammates all wore commemorative No. 22 jerseys during warm-ups. He will also be presented with a crystal vase and a silver hockey stick along with an unspecified gift from his teammates in a presentation before the game.
The lines were as reported this morning with one exception on the defensive pairings: John Erskine is out in favor of Jeff Schultz.
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