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For the second time in just four days, the Carolina Hurricanes, (10-10-2), will be facing their division rivals, the Washington Capitals (16-6-2). This game will be at the Verizon Center in the nation's capital and it will have an early start time of 5 p.m.
The Hurricanes lost their first two meetings to this team, 3-0, and 3-2 but they are coming off a solid 3-0 win in Boston on Friday as Cam Ward earned his 13th career shutout, and first of the season.
The Caps spanked the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-0 on Friday, killing any thoughts about them giving up the division lead anytime soon to Steven Stamkos and company.
The Canes will be sticking with the same lineup they have used for the past couple of games.
- Staal, Samsonov, Cole
- Ruutu, Skinner, LaRose
- Sutter, Dwyer, Jokinen
- Carter, Tlusty, Bodie
- Gleason, Corvo
- Pitkanen, White
- Harrison, McBain
Cam Ward, the new dad, will be in net.
It's not expected that the Caps will have any major changes to their lineup. Check out Japers' Rink for more information about them.
Tuomo Ruutu and Joni Pitkanen have each scored points in five straight games. Jeff Skinner is next with points in three straight.
Skinner still leads all NHL rookies with 19 points in just 22 games.
The team has scored 41 goals in the past 11 games with 16 different players lighting the lamp. Can't ask for better balance than that.
Paul Maurice will coach his 1,000th NHL career game tonight. Maurice is the youngest coach in history to achieve this milestone. As HM pointed out in her most recent clicks and clippings, Paul Branecky has much more here and Chip Alexander has an article here. Will the boys win this one for the gipper?
The game will not be broadcast locally, but should be on Center Ice. We will be discussing the action in the open game thread starting at 4:30.