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Posted by Mark Weiner on Jan 7, 2016 15:15
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Islanders Battle League’s Best as Capitals Visit Brooklyn
When: Thursday, January 7, 2016
Where: Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY
Time: 7:00 PM EST
TV: MSG + (Howie Rose, Butch Goring)
Radio: WNYE 91.5 FM, WRHU 88.7 FM and WRCN 103.9 FM (Chris King, Greg
Picker)
The New York Islanders will have a chance to beat one of the league’s best
squads for the second consecutive game as the Washington Capitals visit
Brooklyn for the first time this season. Washington leapfrogged the Dallas Stars
for the NHL’s top spot after the Stars dropped three in a row including a 6-5 loss
to the Islanders.
The Islanders and Capitals have not played since last season’s exciting playoff
series that went the distance. The division rivals met four times in the regular
season last year and three of the four contests needed overtime. “After a playoff
series like the one we had last year, it kind of builds that rivalry feeling.” Matt
Martin told WRHU at Wednesday’s Islanders practice.
The Capitals currently have a healthy division lead, 12 points in front of the
second place Islanders and have only lost seven games in regulation during the
2015-16 campaign. Since the last time these two teams met, the Capitals added
two notable right handed forwards, T.J Oshie and Justin Williams.
“They are a heck of hockey team,” Kyle Okposo recently told WRHU. “They are
probably the best team in the league right now. We have to make sure we come
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out and play our game.”
Starting goaltender Jaroslav Halak was recently activated off injured reserve
and will be in net for the first time since December 21 against the Ducks. The
Slovakian net minder is 10-6-3 on the year with a 2.09 goals against average.
“He had a good practice (on Wednesday),” Capuano said. “He’s feeling well. It’s
a good sign that he was on the ice early and went through a full practice with
no problems.”
Players To Watch
Islanders- Nick Leddy – The smooth skating defenseman has recorded points
in five straight games, including his first goal of the season against Pittsburgh.
In the last game against Dallas, he recorded two points in a game for the third
time this season. With Johnny Boychuk out of the lineup for the next four to six
weeks, Leddy will be one of the key players asked to fill the void.
Capitals – Braden Holtby – The recently named all-star has been phenomenal
for the Capitals this season. He is 25-4-2 and a 1.93 GAA, which is second in the
league. Over the last 19 games Holtby has a record of 17-0-2. He is the first
goaltender to have earned a point in at least 19 straight decisions since Roberto
Luongo had points in 21 straight games in the 2010-11 season. Washington has
been known for its offensive fire power in recent years but this season, Holtby
has taken them to new heights.
Game Notes
-Jack Capuano will coach his 400th regular season NHL game. Since Tom
Coughlin resigned as Giants head coach, Capuano is the 2nd longest tenured
coach in New York behind Joe Girardi of the Yankees.
-Capitals forward Zach Sill has been suspended for two games by the league for
boarding Bruins D-man Adam McQuaid in their last game.
-Washington agreed to a one year contract with forward Mike Richards
formerly of the Los Angeles Kings. Richards’ contract was terminated over the
summer for what the team called a breach in contract. The 30-year-old met
with the NHL and was cleared to resume his NHL career. Last season, Richards
had 16 points in 53 games with Los Angeles and averaged 13:22 of ice-time.
Lineup (Projected)
Forwards
Anders Lee– John Tavares – Josh Bailey
Kyle Okposo– Frans Nielsen – Nikolai Kulemin
Brock Nelson – Mikhail Grabovski – Ryan Strome
Matt Martin – Casey Cizikas – Cal Clutterbuck
Defensemen
Nick Leddy – Travis Hamonic
Calvin de Haan – Adam Pelech
Thomas Hickey – Marek Zidlicky
Goalies
Jaroslav Halak (Starter)
Thomas Greiss
Injured: Jean-Francois Berube (lower body) Johnny Boychuk (upper body)
Scratched: Steve Bernier, Eric Boulton, Brian Strait
CAPITALS (Projected)
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Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – T.J. Oshie
Andre Burakovsky – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Justin Williams
Jason Chimera – Marcus Johansson – Tom Wilson
Brooks Laich – Michael Latta – Stanislav Galiev
Matt Niskanen – Karl Alzner
Dmitry Orlov – Nate Schmidt
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Philipp Grubauer
Injured: Brooks Orpik (lower body), John Carlson (lower body), Jay
Beagle (upper body)
Scratched: Ryan Stanton, Mike Richards
Suspended: Zach Sill
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