Washington Capitals 2010-2011 ongoing thread

[Dirtbag59]

Biggest game of the year tonight. Right now beating Tampa means a lot more than beating even Pittsburgh (who's below .500 right now even when you forget to count OTL's as losses).

Things to know going into this game, in case you haven't been keeping up:
- Tampa is much improved this year playing a wide open style under Joe Boucher. They use a rarely seen 1-3-1 allignment that puts an emphasis on double teams and turnovers on the defensive end.

- While he'll never match Ovechkins physicality Stakamos is more then capable of matching his scoring numbers

- Tampa is still trying to find an identity on defense. They certainly don't have the type of Offensive Defensemen the Caps have in Carlson and Green or even a plus/minus monster like Schultz. Dan Ellis is their best option at goalie with a 2.11 GAA. Mike Smith on the other hand is currently posting a 3.43 GAA. Ellis is coming off a shut out win against the Maple Leafs that saw him stop 28 shots.

- Tampa is 8th is Goals per game (3.1) and 14th in Goals Against (2.8). They are 6th in Power Play Percentage (23.7) and 3rd in Penalty Killing (90.6).

- Washington is 1st in Goals per game (3.4) and 9th in Goals Against (2.5). They are also 10th in Powerplay percentage (20.3) and Penalty killing (85.9). The first in Goals per game is a huge surprise for the Caps considering how conservative they are on offense.

- Only Carey Price has played as many games as Capitals netminder and October rookie of the month Michael Neuvirth. Currently Neurvirth leads the league in wins though the grind of playing many games seems to be getting to him lately. Neurvith has currently started all but 2 games thanks to the groin injury to Varlamov.