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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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About Mark Weiner

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

Aaron Ness – Taylor Chorney

Braden Holtby (projected starter)

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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