Mike Grier says he's fine and will play tonight in Washington. His team needs him after losing three in a row. The slide has started down the standings and I'm very curious to see how the team reacts playing two difficult teams on the road. Buffalo is one point behind first place Ottawa in the Northeast with one game in hand. They're tied with Boston with three games in hand and one point in front of Montreal with four games in hand. The Sabres hold down 5th place in the East, but are one point out of 11th and three points out of 13th. The Sabres did squeeze three impressive wins in there against Edmonton, Calgary and Philadelphia, but the Sabres are just 4-5-1 in their last ten. Before that, they had won eight of nine games.
Ryan Miller is back in goal. His 1.97 goals against leads the NHL, his .931 save percentage is second, his 12 wins are fourth. Caps goalie Semyon Varlamov has been red hot lately. He's 3-0-2 with a 1.78 goals against and .941 save percentage in his last five games.
Overall Washington is 1-2-2 in the last five scoring just 12 goals. That means they have just one win in their last five games. The Caps are tied for the conference lead with Pittsburgh at 32 points. Washington has been having third period problems lately. The Caps have had a lead in all 24 of their games this season, but have only won 13. After the second period, Washington has surrendered 14 power play goals this season.
Brendan Morrison has resurrected his career in Washington. He has eight points in nine games. Defenseman Mike Green has points in seven straight games. He has 11 points during that streak. Alexander Ovechkin missed six games due to injury, but is still 10th in the league in scoring. He has 16 goals and 26 points in 18 games. He only has two goals and an assist in four games since coming back.
Lately the Caps have been missing Tom Poti, Boyd Gordon, Mike Knuble, Shaone Morrisonn and Milan Jurcina. Alexander Semin has missed four games with a wrist injury. Jurcina is expected to return tonight. Karl Alzner is back up for the Caps. The defenseman was the NHL's 5th overall selection in the 2007 draft. Last year in 30 games with Washington the 21-year old had had one goal and four assists. Washington being so close to the salary cap has kept him in Heshey this year, but now with the injuries, he gets another chance.
The Sabres will scratch Andrej Sekera, Adam Mair and Nathan Paetsch.
Join Schopp and the Bulldog at 6:00 for the pregame when they'll be joined by Lindy Ruff, Thomas Vanek and Steve Montador.
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