GAME DAY: Ottawa Senators @ Washington Capitals - 7:00pm Dec. 12th, 2008

The Sens roll into Washington for a Battle of the Capital Cities. Sens are coming off a shutout loss to Chicago on Wednesday and are looking to get back on some sort of track. The Caps are sporting quite a few injuries but remain atop the Southeast. As always, Ovechkin will be one to watch for the Caps as well as his linemates Semin and Backstrom.

Auld goes for Ottawa and Theodore is listed as probable for the Caps.

Black and Blue Report:

SENATORS: C Dean McAmmond (pneumonia), didn't make the trip.

CAPITALS: RW Eric Fehr (shoulder), day-to-day; LW Tomas Fleischmann (lower body), day-to-day; C Sergei Fedorov (ankle), day-to-day; D Brian Pothier (concussion), out indefinitely; D Mike Green (shoulder), day-to-day; D Jeff Schultz (finger), out indefinitely; RW Chris Clark (arm), out indefinitely; D John Erskine (concussion), day-to-day.

Game is on RDS,SNET-E,CSN-DC. For those outside coverage areas, NHL CI is where you'll see it.

UPDATE: Brent Johnson goes for the Caps as per the Capitals Insider.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalsinsider/2008/12/boudreau_on_tonights_lineup.html

Wow. That's a lot of injuries.

Of interest, the Caps are 11-1-1 at home this season.

And on that note, the Sens are DEAD...
And considering the Bolts threw the Habs for a loop last night, Saturday isn't looking any better either...

Where's #29 with that panic button?

Man its going to be ugly tonight. Hopefully, we don't get lit up like the Isles did.

We won't even enjoy the luxury of a blowout. That might actually provoke action.

We'll probably limit the Caps to about 3 goals and everyone can keep fooling themselves into thinking our sound defensive game is something to build on with the current roster.

Wow, you guys really lost the faith. Talk about fairweather.

TheAvatar wrote:Wow, you guys really lost the faith. Talk about fairweather.

We are probably the most inconsistant team in this league. At least the Bolts know they are bad, but the Sens are kinda yeaaah, "we can be good (then they win 3 in a row)", and suddenly they are like "let's relax a little", then they lose 3 in a row.
That trend cannot continue. Either you make the efforts every night and deserve a win or lose proudly OR you just don't say things like "yeah, we could ahve won, their goalie was good" when you don't work enough.
We are realistic, but that doesn't mean we lost faith. i'm still there until April.

TheAvatar wrote:Wow, you guys really lost the faith. Talk about fairweather.

You're kidding right? This team was brutal for the last 60 games of last season. On top of that we are average AT BEST through almost 30 games this season. This isn't a 5 game losing streak we are talking about here. This subpar play has been going on for over a calendar year now. Hardly fairweather.

Some people are of the opinion that a blow-up (big or small depending on who you ask) is needed. That's just the reality of the situation. With cap uncertainty, we CANNOT spend 20+ million on 4 forwards. It's just not good economics. This isn't a fairweather view, nor is it a pessimistic one. It's reality.

Cronenbergfan wrote:And on that note, the Sens are DEAD...
And considering the Bolts threw the Habs for a loop last night, Saturday isn't looking any better either...

Where's #29 with that panic button?

I'm polishing it up like the Stanley Cup guy for this weekend....

Let's gather around Sunday morning to cut the ribbon, slice the cake and press the button....

Yeah, I'm about ready to push it. I can't see this season turning around.

Maybe next year.

mattshock wrote:Yeah, I'm about ready to push it. I can't see this season turning around.

Maybe next year.

Yep. As nice of addition as J-Bo would be, I don't think we can afford a huge contract like that without moving another. Moving pieces like Vermette to free enough space just spells cap trouble going forward. If Murray isn't careful he could find himself in some really nasty cap problems.

Agreed. Which is why I think Melnyk is attempting to be 'proactive' in giving a Murray a 'magic #', if you will, to work with so as to avoid as much unpleasantness as possible down the road.

With McLaren in the minors to save the Sharks cap space, I get the feeling Murray may snag him... I have NO insider info regarding this, just a feeling. But J-Bow and Sundin, and probably Shanahan, are not Ottawa bound, obviously.

Cronenbergfan wrote:Agreed. Which is why I think Melnyk is attempting to be 'proactive' in giving a Murray a 'magic #', if you will, to work with so as to avoid as much unpleasantness as possible down the road.

With McLaren in the minors to save the Sharks cap space, I get the feeling Murray may snag him... I have NO insider info regarding this, just a feeling. But J-Bow and Sundin, and probably Shanahan, are not Ottawa bound, obviously.

Mclaren doesn't help us though. He's not manning our point, or he would have never have been demoted by the Sharks. The odd highlight reel hip check (check the Letowski clip on youtube) aside, he's not great defensivly anymore.

He just isn't a fit imo.

Oh you make a good point Hemlock; but I just have a feeling Murray might think he IS a fit.

However, on a more serious note, as I stated earlier, if nothing is done before the freeze and or by d-day, then we should keep Hedman in our sights...