Washington Capitals seek another victory as they take on New York Islanders – NHL Preview
After spending almost the entire month staying on the losing side, Washington Capitals are finally showing some aggression.
If they build on the momentum from their last two games and defeat New York Islanders in a National Hockey League (NHL) matchup on Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at Verizon Center, Washington, District of Columbia, Capitals might also enter the safe zone in
the Eastern Conference.
New York Islanders are far away from the safe zone and they might hurt their already thin playoff chances badly if they do not get back to winning ways.
Let’s have a look at both the teams.
Capitals
Capitals have played 13 games this month and have won five of them.
The overall record does not look good, but they have recently shown some aggression and are presently on a two-game winning run.
It is the first time in the month that they have won two straight games. The recent victories came against Montreal Canadiens (4-1) and Toronto Maple Leafs (4-2).
Capitals are ranked at ninth spot in the Eastern Conference with 67 points after 62 games and are just one point behind the eighth ranked Winnipeg Jets.
After winning the game against Leafs and getting closer to reaching the safe zone, Capitals’ defenseman, Mike Green, said of the win:
"Tonight was a huge win for us. It puts us back where we want to be and we've got to keep getting better from here. It's been a rough go this year and we've got to make up some ground."
Islanders
Islanders have also not been very laudable this month.
Out of the 13 games played this month, Islanders have won six, but have failed to win two or more games in a row.
As they travel to play Capitals, Islanders have some questions to answer especially about their offence.
In their last game, Islanders got defeated against Ottawa Senators.
Islanders scored the only goal of the first period to take the lead, but they could not bear Senators’ aggressive outburst later in the game and eventually lost it.
Islanders are ranked at 13th spot in the Eastern Conference with 60 points after 62 games. Their coach, Jack Capuano, said after the last game:
"We've got to take a little more pride in our game and get back to our foundation, where it was at the start of the year. Some of the guys should look in the mirror and know they could have worked a little harder tonight and been a little stronger on the
puck at times.”
He added:
"You can't look back though and you have to look forward. This next week is going to be huge."
Predictions
Capitals have a slight edge.
The sum of goal scored by both the teams might exceed six.
If Islanders win, the winning margin will be more than two goals.
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