Friday Roundup/Gamenight: Devils @ Caps

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Uh oh. Here come the Devils and... Scott Clemmensen?

Perhaps Lou Lamoriello went to Brent Sutter and said, "Give this start to Clemmensen. I want reliable people, people who aren't going to be carried away. After all we're not murderers in spite of what this undertaker thinks." Or not.

If you're not familiar with Clemmensen, here's a look at the 31-year-old's career stats (he has actually played in three games against the Caps, starting two, and going 1-1-0/2.61/.893).

If you're not familiar with why Kevin Weekes isn't starting, here's a look at his stats on the season (plus, the two were likely going to split this home-and-home series anyway).

And if you're not familiar with why Martin Brodeur isn't starting, well, you've probably been living under a rock for two weeks. Since Brodeur went down with his elbow injury (and took my fantasy team with him), the Devils have gone 1-4, scoring just eight goals and giving up 15.

On the season, the Devils have had trouble scoring goals (especially on the power play) and have one of the League's worst penalty kills. And they're 0-4-2 when outshot. And they're banged up. And since I should probably talk about the Caps at some point in this post, here's an interesting stat from Simply Sensational:

The New Jersey Devils are the only team in the Eastern Conference that Alex Ovechkin has not had a multi-point game against.

Prediction: that ends tonight.

These are two points for the Caps' taking - go get 'em, boys.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

The Caps may be "the very model of a modern rebuild," but I can't help but wonder what might have been had they ended up with Cam Barker in 2004 instead of AO.... Hey, it's been a while since we saw a Michael Nylander-to-Chicago rumor, so this quenches that insatiable thirst.... Quoth the Maven: "[H]as anyone noticed that [Brent] Johnson is better than Washington's alleged No.1 Jose Theodore?" No, Stan. No one. You're the first. Really.... For some reason, the Sports Guy lumps winning a Division in the NHL in with leading the WNBA in attendance. Oh, I know the reason - so he can crap on D.C.... Since we love gambling (but only wager M&M's), we love some of these prop bets. For example: Number of 2008-09 Southeast Division Playoff Teams, over/under set at 1.5. Whaddya got?... Simeon Varlamov will be between the pipes for da Bears tonight.... I couldn't possibly dig this post any more. Go there and click on every link, especially my personal fave (this is the end, beautiful friend).... Finally, potentially-to-likely NSFW depending upon where you work (via Four Habs Fans via Habs Fan in NYC): We're all Canadiens fans today, I'd say.

Monday Roundup/Gamenight: Devils @ Caps

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For the second time in four nights the Caps and Devils will meet as Jersey visits the nation's capital. This time, however, it's the Caps who come in on a high note (following Saturday night's 6-3 win over Atlanta) and the Devs who are looking to get back into the win column (after Sunday's 1-0 overtime loss to the Rangers).

If the Devils were ripe for the pickin' on Friday night - and they were - they're even moreso tonight, playing the second of back-to-back road games and the third of a three-games-in-five-nights set. In fact, Devils' bench boss Brent Sutter noted that the Caps were the "fresher" of the two teams on Friday night - and that was before last night's hard-hitting OT affair for his squad. Whether Martin Brodeur will be in net yet again or Kevin Weekes gets his first start since November 12 remains to be seen, but either way Jersey has got to be a tired team, and the 32 hits they absorbed in last night's loss will serve to weaken them that much more.

The Caps, for their part, should be playing with all the confidence they displayed on Saturday night and, if they come out guns a-blazin', could have another big night. Of course, "shoulds" and "coulds" have turned into "didn'ts" all season long for D.C., but Matt Pettinger's goal on Saturday night sure did feel like both he and the team had turned a corner, didn't it?

As every game becomes more important than the last for these Caps, Monday night's is certainly one that they should win - and hopefully tonight's "shoulds" and "coulds" turn into "dids."

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

Random stat of the day: four Caps (Nicklas Backstrom, Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green and Jeff Schultz) are younger than the youngest player on the Devils roster (Travis Zajac), and two Caps (Donald Brashear and Olie Kolzig) are older than the oldest player in Jersey's lineup (Brodeur).... Backstrom has nine points in eight games (including two three-point efforts) under Bruce Boudreau and only has two fewer points over that span than the two players ahead of him among the rookie scoring leaders combined. If you'd written him off for Calder consideration, you'd better have an eraser handy.... Josh Godfrey had two goals and a pair of assists in Sault Ste. Marie's win over Sarnia last night. He's now third among OHL defensemen in goals and ninth in points.... Finally, gotta hand it to the WaPo - what a great picture they've got accompanying Tarik's article today.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Milan Hejduk (3G, 3A, +4, 4 SOG)
  
• Ross: Milan Hejduk (6 points)
  
• Norris: Andres Lilja (Game-winning goal, +3, 2 SOG, 3 hits, 3 blocked shots)
  
• Vezina: Martin Brodeur (28 saves on 29 shots against in OT loss)
  
• Richard: Milan Hejduk (3G)
  
• Calder: Dustin Byfuglien (G, A, 3 SOG, 4 hits)
  
• Aiken: Hannu Toivonen (L, 8 goals allowed on 25 shots against)
  

Monday Roundup/Gamenight: Sid @ Alex Pens @ Caps

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From Ducks to Flyers to flightless foul, the Caps welcome the Penguins to the Verizon Center for tonight's much-anticipated and overly-hyped matchup.

After seeing their four-game win streak snapped in a big way on Friday night, the Caps bounced back to win one of those "should win" games at Philly on Saturday in what was visitors' third game in four nights. Tonight's game will again be the third in four nights for the Caps, who will then get a well-deserved break until Friday (when they will travel to Atlanta to face the Thrashers in another much-anticipated and sure-to-be-overly-hyped matchup).

Back to the task at hand, the Caps and Pens both come into tonight's game with more wins than regulation losses, but both have surrendered more goals than they've scored thus far (I guess when these teams lose, they lose big). And while the media would have you believe that this is a matchup of young superstars, it's really a matchup of two teams who are at different stages in their respective rebuilding processes. The Pens - who have seemingly been rebuilding forever - are still primarily a two-man team. They only have two double-digit goal scorers (I just guaranteed a Mark Recchi hat trick tonight, didn't I?), and only three forwards with more than fifteen points. But help is on the way for the Pens, we're told, as it has been for years.

The Caps, on the other hand, have developed the kind of depth and secondary scoring that is the hallmark of the League's more successful teams. They have five double-digit goal scorers, all of whom have at least 17 points. That's the same number of double-digit goal scorers as Buffalo and Anaheim have and two more than Atlanta and Ottawa have (those are the four teams in the League with 100+ goals scored). And with Olie Kolzig in net, the Caps seemed poised to make a serious run at this year's playoffs. Add a puck-moving d-man and it's a lock. Add a second-line center and it's a team that can do some real damage come April.

So what do I expect tonight? If the Caps can stay hungry and play disciplined hockey, they should win. If they come out flat or take too many penalties, the Crosby Show could be a painful one to watch. But the Caps haven't lost a "should win" in weeks (probably the last being the home game against the Bruins), so there's no reason to expect them to drop one tonight. At the very least, the expectations that are emerging surrounding this team are a great indicator of successes yet to come.

Elsewhere 'Round the Rinks:

• ESPN.com's Scott Burnside has more on the Caps' emergence.
• Thanks to DK for the pointer to this article on some AO media doings.

Daily Awards

• Hart: Kevin Weekes (W, 34 saves on 35 shots against in 2-1 win)
• Ross: Ron Hainsey (3 points)
• Norris: Ron Hainsey (GWG, 2A, +1, 4 blocked shots)
• Vezina: Kevin Weekes (W, 34 saves on 35 shots against)
• Richard: Dan Fritsche, Rick Nash (2G each)
• Calder: Lasse Kukkonen (A, +1)
• Aiken: Martin Gerber (L, 4 goals against on 13 shots in 27:08 of work versus Columbus)