Caps (9-3-0, 18 points) vs. Stars (10-3-0, 20 points)
What – Game #13
Where – Verizon Center
When – 7 p.m.
TV – CSN HD
Radio – WFED-1500 AM
The Dallas Stars aren’t exactly filled with household names anymore. To be honest – I looked at that team in the preseason and wondered how they’d even contend for the playoffs given the loss of star center Brad Richards to the New York Rangers via free agency.
But what do I know? Dallas is off to the best start in the Western Conference with 20 standings points. Goalie Kari Lehtonen – who the Caps know well from his days with the Atlanta Thrashers – is healthy and posting a .936 save percentage with a 2.14 goals-against average.
But the top line of Loui Eriksson, Jamie Benn and Michael Ryder has combined for 16 goals. Eriksson is one of the league’s most underappreciated players. He finished 19th in the NHL last season with 73 points. He already has eight goals and seven assists this year. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau used the same “underappreciated” description for puck-moving defenseman Stephane Robidas, who has two goals and three assists.
No Mike Green on the blueline for Washington. He continues to rehab from a right ankle injury. Mathieu Perreault will be the other scratch. Remember, the team is going with 22 players on the active roster. John Erskine will appear in his 400th career NHL game tonight. Not bad for a player who didn’t appear in more than 34 games in a season until he was 27. Erskine saw action in a career-high 73 last year.
One note: The Caps made a minor trade today when they acquired defenseman Tomas Kundratek, 21, from the New York Rangers for 2006 second-round draft pick Francois Bouchard, 23. Bouchard scored 21 goals in 2009-10 for the Hershey Bears. But his numbers dropped to 12 goals and 12 assists last season and he didn’t record a point in nine games this season with eight penalties. Time for a change of scenery.
Kundratek, meanwhile, had two goals and 10 assists in 70 games for the Connecticut Whale last season – his first as a professional. The 6-foot-2, 192-pounder had appeared in seven games for the Rangers’ AHL affiliate this season with two assists. A right-handed shot from the Czech Republic, Kundratek was a third-round pick in New York in 2008.
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