With two of their three new acquisitions in the lineup, the Capitals look to gain some ground in the standings against Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils. New lines are an inevitability when a team makes personnel changes and here’s what the Capitals are expected to come out with, according to Tarik El-Bashir:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov
Semin-Fedorov-Laich
Fleischmann-Gordon-Fehr
Brashear-Steckel-Bradley/Laing

Very solid job on the part of Bruce Boudreau. My initial reaction was that there’s not a clear shutdown/checking line with these lines, which is always the first thing I look for since I’m a big married to the idea. However, these top three lines can all score and are all sound defensively as all have good two-way centers (plus Alex Ovechkin and Brooks Laich are very good defensive players as well). Despite how good the lines look right now, my guess would be that when Matt Cooke arrives Eric Fehr will be a scratch, Tomas Fleischmann will be moved up to the second line and Laich will move to the third line, creating a checking line with Cooke and Gordon. Or maybe I just really like the idea of having a checking line.

Washington Capitals at New Jersey Devils
Friday, February 29th, 7:00 PM
Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey
TV: CSN
Last Meeting: 2/25/08, Caps lose 2-1 in overtime

About the Opponent

37-21-6, 80 points, 1st in the Atlantic Division, 1st in the Eastern Conference

Team Leaders
Goals: Zach Parise (25)
Assists: Zach Parise (30)
Points: Zach Parise (55)
Plus/Minus: Paul Martin (+20)
Penalty Minutes: David Clarkson (153)
Fights: David Clarkson (17)

Random Devils Fact
Martin Brodeur’s 48 wins in 2006-07 set a single-season record.

Random Devils Statistic
Total number of professional hockey games played by Devil’s general manager Lou Lamoriello: 0.

Keys to the Game

Washington
Smart decisions. The Devils generate most of their offense on the counter attack and powerplay. If the Capitals can avoid turning the puck over and taking dumb penalties it will go a long way towards snuffing out New Jersey’s attack.

New Jersey
Puck possession. The Capitals defense still isn’t great, but their forwards are smart and explosive. The best way to keep the Capitals off the board will be to keep the puck in their zone.

Players to Watch

Washington
Steve Eminger. Nah, not really, I just wanted to come up with the most random guy I could think of to raise some eyebrows, because every Caps fan knows the players to watch tonight are Sergei Fedorov and Cristobal Huet.

Devils
Zach Parise - Parise is a prototypical post-lockout player in that he doesn’t have great size but does have great skill and skating ability; he’s the prototypical Devils player because he’s smart, good defensively and plays for the team. Plus he leads the team in goals, assists and points so…he’s probably a guy the Caps should keep an eye on.

Around the (Inter)net
The Hurricanes lost last night; the Capitals now have three games in had and are five points back meaning that they can get the division lead back by winning each of the games in hand. Perhaps the Capitals biggest challenger for feel-good story of the year, Darwin Head…Kozlig again talks retirement…The Capitals get a A- from Yahoo! and an 8.5 from ESPN for their deadline moves.