ROUND 1 AT 7TH AND F

Washington Capitals v Pittsburgh Penguins

Thursday December 23, 2010

7pm

Verizon Center, Washington DC

Hockey's most covered rivalry begins anew tonight as the Capitals host the Penguins at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC. The Caps and Pens have been rivals for quite some time, although the rivalry has increased due to the rise of Crosby and Ovechkin as the two biggest stars in the NHL. This years contest has even more sizzle to it due to the HBO coverage and the Winter Classic (which believe it or not is only a week and a half away).

The Caps and Pens are two very different teams right now, as anyone who has seen "24/7" is painfully aware of. The Penguins are firing on all cylinders, losing only 2 games in the last 14. Crosby is on a 22 game point streak and the team as a whole is playing flawless hockey. The Capitals on the other hand were in a much covered 8 game skid, although recently have gotten back to winning hockey. The stars of DC though are another story. Ovechkin, Backstrom, and Green are in unusual slumps and the Capitals cannot depend simply on the heroics of Andrew Gordon, Matty Perreault, and John Carlson if they expect to be playing in June.

With this in mind, here are some story lines and keys for tonights huge tilt in Chinatown:

1) The Ovechkin Watch: Capitals fans can no longer argue that Ovechkin is better than Crosby. It is just simply not true right now. Ovechkin though can get back in the discussion with a huge game tonight.

2) Can the Caps Halt Another Streak: The Capitals are not known as a defensive team, but Bruce has been trying to implement a more defensive style in the last few weeks. Putting a stop to Crosby's dominance tonight would do wonders in validating what the Capitals are trying to do.

3) Will BB Account for Crosby: The Capitals did something they had never done before in the Ducks game- match lines. Tonight would be a good time to try that again as I would love to see Laich and Poti-Hannan play every shift against 87 in white.

4) Who Will Step it Up: If Ovechkin and Co continue to struggle, someone else has to step up. Look for Eric Fehr to build on his strong games in Boston and Ottawa.

5) Keys to the Game: Score first, covert on the PP, and try to neutralize Crosby. Pretty obvious.

PREDICTION:

The Capitals need this game way more than the Penguins do. The game is at home, they have not been playing well overall, and HBO has made them out to be a depressed group. This game could be huge to restoring the confidence and swagger that has been the staple of this Capitals team during the Boudreau Era.

Final Score: 4-3 Capitals. Caps will trailing 3-1 entering the 3rd period, will get a dirty grinder goal at the beginning of the 3rd and Carlson pulls his hero routine on a late PP to send it to OT. Then, Ovechkin returns to relevance with an OT game winner to blow the top of the Verizon Center (which hopefully I will hear from my apartment).

GO CAPS