2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series Updates – Florida Panthers host the Washington Capitals as the teams face for the third time in the season (Preview)
Florida Panthers versus the Washington Capitals will be the third of the six meetings scheduled to take place between the two sides. This first match was won by the Florida Panthers 3-0 as they kept the clean sheet intact. The most recent meeting between
the two sides took place this weekend as the Washington Capitals managed to come up with 3-2 after overtime in a close match that could have gone in favour of either team.
Washington Capitals will be looking to win the match this time as a win would benefit them a lot. The Washington Capitals are currently in the second spot in the Southeast Division trailing the Tampa Bay Lightning by a point. Washington Capitals has won
the division for the past two seasons and a win would put them in the first position once again with the advantage of a game in hand compared to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It has been quite a while since the Washington Capitals came across a regulation time loss with the final loss coming against the Boston Bruins.
Washington Capitals is facing some problems currently. The most notable out of these is of Alexander Semin. Semin was in superb form at the start of the season as he scored 18 goals in the 25 games he played. However, this player wasn’t able to score any
goal in last 14 games he played and got injured and is out of the lineup for couple of weeks.
Washington Capitals in replacement has called Brain Willsie from the AHL to fill up the gap. Willsie is in good touch scoring 33 points in the last 36 matches he has played. Washington Capitals would be glad to know that Boyd Gordon is ready to provide his
services after recovering from the injury he sustained in December. The Washington Capitals start nine games on road with the game against the Panthers until the All Stars weekend break.
"Everyone means something," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's not like Florida is 40 points behind or your next nearest competitor is 20 points back. I don't know if it's any easier to motivate, but there should be a lot of self-motivation rather than relying
on me to motivate them."
Washington Capitals had played 42 games so far winning 24 games in regulation time and 6 games in overtime scoring 54 points. While Florida Panthers has played 40 games so far out of which they have won 18 games in regulation time and another two in overtime
scoring 38 points.
Florida Panthers start six games on home run and if they are to have a strong finish to the season. They are currently last in their Division and 11 points behind the eighth spot which is the last position for the playoff position. However, Florida’s home
record is one of the worse in the NHL currently winning only one of the last five games playing at the Bank Atlantic Centre.
"We're in the pack, and when you think where everyone told us we would be, guys have taken some pride in proving people wrong," Panthers coach Pete DeBoer said. "We're not one of the two worst teams in the League. … No one is happy where we're at, from (general
manager) Dale Tallon on down. We're all trying to fix it on a daily basis."
Washington Capitals is the favourite to win the match and added to this is the poor home form of the Panthers at home which could help the Washington Capitals.
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