2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Carolina Hurricanes play host to the Washington Capitals
The Carolina Hurricanes will be hosting the Washington Capitals this Wednesday as they square off in the second out of six matches scheduled to take place between the two teams in the season. The Southeast rivals will be most definitely trying to overpower
each other. Undoubtedly the match would be entertaining despite the fact that both teams are 10 points apart.
The last meeting between the two teams took place on the 27th of October 2010 during which the Washington Capitals dominated the proceedings and won with a commanding lead of 3-0.
The Carolina Hurricanes will be boosted and urged to win firstly because of the home advantage and the added importance of a win since it will be the 500th game for the Eric Staal, the star player for the Hurricanes during this season.
Eric Staal is only the 10th man to achieve the feat and in doing so has done a great deal for the benefit of the team and brought many wins through the diverse game and talent this extravagant players offers. Leading the Carolina Hurricanes Captain,
Eric Staal has scored 9 goals in the season thus far. Added to these are his impressive contributions for other team mates as he has made 14 assists.
The Carolina Hurricanes point’s record doesn’t tell the whole story. The Hurricanes were in a good position until recently when they lost two games on a straight. The first of the two was against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the second against the Nashville
Predators. Both the games were lost after a shootout for which they can’t be blames too much.
The Carolina Hurricanes have scored 20 points so far. They have played 20 games winning 11 and lost the other 9 games. The Washington Capitals on the other hand are also facing a difficult time in the league. The Washington Capitals currently sit in the
Southeast standings strongly with 30 points after playing 22 games. They have won 16 games and lost 6 games.
The Capitals have really been hurt by the three consecutive loses to the Atlanta Thrashers, Philadelphia Flyers and New Jersey Devils respectively. The Washington Capitals started off the season in spectacular fashion and continued to dominate the league
table but the second loss in a row to the Philadelphia Flyers cost them the top spot in the Southeast standings.
The Washington Capitals have taken steps to counter the recent drop in form and recalled goal tender Semyon Varlamov. Varlamov has shown some good results in the American Hockey League and came up with a splendid performance in the shootout as he helped
his team win 4-3.
The goal keeper of the Washington Capitals is the most impressive players of the lot and has written his name in the history books after becoming the first goal keepers in the Capitals history to record 10 wins out of 16 games. Not only this, he is fast
approaching the record of becoming the rookie goalie to register 18 wins on the basis of fewer games played.
The Carolina Hurricanes will be happy to find no injuries this time while the Capitals face injury to their forward Mike Knuble and defenseman Tom Poti. The Washington Capitals are looking good ahead of the match and are expected to register a win to end
the three games losing streak.
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