Minnesota Wild vs. Washington Capitals: Game 19

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 6:00 PM CST in Events

Washington Capitals at Minnesota Wild, Nov 24, 2008 7:00 PM CST

Minnesotawild_medium

Washington Capitals (11-6-3) @ Minnesota Wild (11-6-1)

Xcel Energy Center @ 7:00 CST

Television: Versus (HD)
Radio: WCCO 830AM or Listen Live

For the Washington perspective, check out On Frozen Blog

Tonight's lines:

Minnesota Wild

Washington Capitals

Veilleux - Koivu - Mittens
Brunette - Belanger - Nolan
Burns - Sheppard - Bouchard
Boogaard - Pouliot - Clutterbuck

Johnsson - Schultz
Zidlicky - Skoula
Reitz - Bergeron

Backstrom
Harding

Ovechkin - Backstrom - Kozlov
Fleischmann - Nylander - Clark
Laich - Steckel - Fehr
Brashear - Gordon - Bradley

Poti - Sloan
Morrisonn - Schultz
Erskine - Jurcina

Theodore
Johnson

Injuries: Minnesota Wild

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Marian Gaborik	lower body	10.15.2008
Kurtis Foster	left leg surgery	9.20.2008
John Scott	ankle	10.6.2008

Injuries: Washington Capitals

Questionable

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Mike Green	bruised right shoulder	11.24.2008

Doubtful

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Sergei Fedorov	sprained left ankle	11.24.2008
Alexander Semin	strained upper back/shoulder	11.24.2008

Out (IR / Out / Suspended / Physically unvailable)

Player	Injury Type	Injury Date
Brian Pothier	post-concussion syndrome	9.20.2008

NOTES:

Left wing Alexander Semin has missed each of the last four contests and defenseman Mike Green has missed two straight. Neither are expected to play tonight.
Washington is 11th in the NHL on the power play at 19.8% and 22nd in the league with a 79.8% kill rate.
The Wild are eighth in the NHL in power play proficiency with 20.8% and have the league’s top penalty killing outfit with a kill rate of 91.4%.
Niklas Backstrom is fourth in the NHL with a 2.00 GAA and a .932 save pct.
The Caps are 5-4 against the Western Conference this season.

Questions to Answer

With Semin out, the Wild are saved the task of having to key on two offensive powers. Will they be able to shutdown Alex Ovechkin?
Now that the number of shots has been increased lately, can ANYONE find the back of the net?
Will Niklas Backstrom or Nicklas Backstrom have a better game?
Does tonight end the Burns at forward experiment?
Will the Wild "ruin" yet another nationally televised game by playing "their style" better than the Eastern team plays theirs?

Jacques Lemaire Pregame Interview

Terhaar & Greenlay Game Preview

Erik Belanger Pregame Interview

Tweet Comment 31 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Let's Play Hockey!

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 7:10 PM CST reply actions

Great stop by Theodore on Mittens, then Koivu fanned on the WIDE open net

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 7:12 PM CST reply actions

Great transition by Boogie, even got a nice shot on THeodore

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 7:14 PM CST reply actions

Wild penalty: Marek Zidlicky – 2:00 closing his hand on the puck

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 7:23 PM CST reply actions

Washington penalty: Laich, 2:00 for holding

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 7:27 PM CST reply actions

Okay folks

I’m outta here. Time for a hair cut. I’ll be back for the end of the third.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 7:27 PM CST reply actions

Recap

So, while I’ve been gone, Cal Clutterbuck has scored twice and Marek Zidlicky scored on the power play after both Poti and Ovechkin were busted for closing their hands on the puck

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:02 PM CST reply actions

WILD GOAL!!!!

James Sheppard from PMB.

4-0 Wild.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:07 PM CST reply actions

Nice to see the Wild learned how to score on Jose Theodore

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:15 PM CST reply actions

Caps goal.

Saw that coming, they were absolutely buzzing around the WIld’s defensive shell. Goal for Bradley

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:20 PM CST reply actions

Ooh, bad goal by Alex Ovechkin. Backstrom has to make that save. 4-2 Wild.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:22 PM CST reply actions

Please dont Choke Wild.....

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:22 PM CST reply actions

This is why I don’t like the defensive shell. Can’t go into the prevent defense against Alexander Ovechkin.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:23 PM CST reply actions

i dont think you can go into a Defensive shell against anybody.

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:24 PM CST reply actions

Agreed

But especially not a team that doesn’t both playing in their own zone.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:25 PM CST up reply actions

Or against a team with the Talent Washington has other than Ovechkin.

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:26 PM CST up reply actions

Wild penalty: Marek Zidlicky 2:00 for hooking.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:24 PM CST reply actions

UGH

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:25 PM CST reply actions

Don’t like that call. Since when can’t you try to pin a guy’s stick to the ice?

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:26 PM CST reply actions

Nicklas Backstrom Beats Nicklas Backstrom

its 4-3

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:27 PM CST reply actions

Caps goal

Nicklas Backstrom on the PP

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:27 PM CST reply actions

Empty Net

faceoff with 50 seconds left.

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:29 PM CST reply actions

What is with this team?

Why do they constantly let up after scoring or let up with a lead? Time and again this happens, and it’s terrible. Is it coaching?

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:29 PM CST reply actions

Wild Win 4-3

BARELY

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:31 PM CST reply actions

I Dont think its Coaching

I Think its the Mentality of the players…Thinking they have the game locked in the bag they play halfassed

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:31 PM CST reply actions

Scary win, but we’ll take it. 4-3 Wild.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:32 PM CST reply actions

Wow, how’d this get to 4-3?! I was checking during the Islanders game, just kept seeing the Wild build a 4-0 lead, so I stopped checking, assuming it was in the bag.

(Plus, the Isles game got crazy. Ryan O’Byrne of the Habs “tied” it 3-3 by scoring into his own net during a delayed penalty. So of course the Isles won in a shootout, while O’Byrne was booed mercilessly by the home crowd.)

SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.

by Dominik on Nov 24, 2008 9:34 PM CST up reply actions

Blech

The Wild went into a defensive shell and played a prevent D, allowing the Caps to take shot after shot without trying to put any forecheck on at all. The Wild cannot win without the forecheck.

by nathaneide on Nov 24, 2008 9:36 PM CST up reply actions

Sounds like the Islanders! Only with fewer wins and stuff…

Catching the recap on VS. now.

SBN now has a NY Islanders blog at LighthouseHockey.com.

by Dominik on Nov 24, 2008 9:50 PM CST up reply actions

Phew is all i can say.

by Tony_O on Nov 24, 2008 9:35 PM CST reply actions

Game Summary

Scoring Summary
1st Period
Minnesota 13:54, Cal Clutterbuck 1 (Marc-Andre Bergeron)
2nd Period
Minnesota 5:09, Cal Clutterbuck 2 (power play) (Brent Burns, Eric Belanger)
3rd Period
Minnesota 3:07, Marek Zidlicky 3 (power play) (Marc-Andre Bergeron, Mikko Koivu)
Minnesota 7:17, James Sheppard 1 (Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Brent Burns)
Washington 14:43, Matt Bradley 3 (Eric Fehr)
Washington 16:07, Alexander Ovechkin 9 (Tomas Fleischmann, Milan Jurcina)
Washington 18:16, Nicklas Backstrom 5 (power play) (Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr)

Penalty Summary
1st Period
Minnesota closing hand on puck – 2 min 7:25, M. Zidlicky
Washington holding – 2 min 9:22, B. Laich
2nd Period
Washington holding – 2 min 3:13, M. Jurcina
Washington tripping – 2 min 5:55, J. Erskine
Washington elbowing – 2 min 6:24, S. Morrisonn
Minnesota hooking – 2 min 9:09, K. Johnsson
3rd Period
Washington closing hand on puck – 2 min 2:21, T. Poti
Washington closing hand on puck – 2 min 2:48, A. Ovechkin
Minnesota hooking – 2 min 17:13, M. Zidlicky