New York Rangers at Washington Capitals
Sunday February 10th, 2008, 1:00 PM
TV: NBC CSN
Last Meeting: 12/13/2007, Capitals win 5-4 in overtime.

I am committed (time-wise) for the rest of Saturday, so the statistics given in this preview are current as of its posting, which is to say the do not include the results of the Rangers/Flyers game tonight.

Two days after relinquishing their brief stay at the top of the Southeast Division standings, the Capitals will try to right the ship in a matinée against the New York Rangers, who themselves know a little something about tightly packed divisions - in the Rangers home, the Northeast, the top four teams are separated by only five points.

About the Opponent
New York Rangers: 27-24-6, 60 points, 4th in the Northeast Division, 8th in the Eastern Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: tie - Chris Drury and Brendan Shanahan (17)
Assists: Scott Gomez (40)
Points: Scott Gomez (52)
Plus/Minus: Marcel Hossa (+7)
Penalty Minutes: Colton Orr (170)
Fights: Colton Orr (15)

Random Rangers Fact
Rangers center Scott Gomez once had a walk-on role on the soap opera “One Life to Live”.

Random Rangers Statistic
The Rangers big free agent acquisitions Scott Gomez and Chris Drury are on pace to combine for 41 goals and 130 points and are being paid a combined $17.1 million, meaning the Rangers are looking to be on the hook for $417,073.17 per goal and $131,538.46 per point for the duo this season.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Get the powerplay clicking. After going 0-7 against Carolina on Friday night the Caps dropped to 1-24 with the man advantage over the last eight games. You don’t necessarily have to pot a goal on the powerplay to win, but you do have to at least be a threat and get a little offensive momentum going.

New York
Play team defense. The Rangers have a number of solid defensemen but no great one, while the Capitals have several forwards who control the puck very well and can make plays. To avoid getting burned the Rangers are going to need to play smart defense as a five-man unit.

Players to Watch

Washington
Olaf Kolzig - Kolzig is obviously not happy about the way this season has gone for him or about the fact that he and Brent Johnson are essentially now in a platoon situation. The extra rest seems to be serving the 37-year-old veteran well though and combined with his ultra-competitive nature and the importance of games down the stretch, I’d look for him to get hot.

Alexander Semin - Semin only made it one game after being called out by Bruce Boudreau before he took another selfish penalty to take his team off a powerplay, and the lastest was the most egregious, giving up the man advantage with less than thirty seconds to play in the third and his team trailing by one. There are two subplots here: (1) how Semin responds to screwing up yet again and (2) whether he will be able to control his temper at all against a team that’s dressing Sean Avery, Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr.

New York
Sean Avery - the league’s most hated player is the definition of the term ‘pest’ and is the best in the business. Although most of Washington’s tougher players (Donald Brashear, Matt Bradley, John Erskine) aren’t going to be goaded into the types of penalties Avery gets players to take, many of the Capitals more skilled players are prone to taking bad penalties from time to time (Alex Ovechkin, Tom Poti)…or more often than that (Semin). Last year’s playoff series against Atlanta demonstrated how much of an impact Avery can have if he gets under a team’s skin and if the Capitals let him do that they’re going to have a hard time cobbling together a win.

Henrik Lundqvist - Lundqvist has either been in the zone and on his game or looked lost for most of the season, rarely finding a middle ground. Which Lundqvist shows up for the Rangers will go a long way in determining the outcome of this game.

Around the (Inter)net
A Washington Times article about ‘Gang Green’, the official Mike Green fan club…Hockey Day in Canada, hosted from Eric Fehr’s hometown of Winkler, Manitoba…In his quest to outdo himself in stupidity, Mike Brophy is now championing the end of no trade clauses…a New York Times article about the Islanders and their attempt to move into the Chinese market…Capitals Art caricatures Alex Ovechkin…Joe Juneau takes a different approach to retirement than most…Damn you, Metro!