Preseason Game Preview, Caps vs. Ning

I'll do a preview of tonight's preseason game simply because it is the only preseason game I am attending this year. (Work commitments prevent me from attending the others)

Washington Capitals (0-0; 0 points) vs. Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0; 0 points):

Verizon Center, Washington, D.C. 7:05 pm. No known TV. Tampa Radio: WDAE 620 A.M. (There might be a stream on the Caps Website, but this is a preseason game people, I'm only going because I have season tickets and I have to buy these games. Please, it is nice outside right now, maybe a little cool, but don't sit hunched over a computer listening to Steve Kolbe of all people...)

Tonight the Caps and the Ning both play in their first preseason game. The Caps are returning to game action for the first time since April 18th, 2006 when they beat the Ning 4-1 to close out their 2005-2006 season.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post, Times, Caps.com.

Open Source Intelligence:

Tampa Tribune #1, Tampa Tribune #2, St. Pete Times #1, St. Pete Times #2, Ning.com (How sad is it that the Tampa papers have more info on the Ning than the D.C. papers have on the Caps?)

What do I expect tonight? Not a whole bleepin' lot. Last year during the preseason, the Caps had issues taking penalty after penalty after penalty after penalty and not being able to kill them (and getting to the rink on time, but that's a different story). Tonight's Caps roster includes; A.O., Richard Zednik, Alexander Semin, and Donald Breshear. The Caps look to be playing to the home crowd tonight. Also in a rare move for the first preseason game, both team's starting goalies are scheduled to play the whole game. If the Caps win tonight, great, if not, so what?

Also, in addition to the players cut yesterday; Trevor Byrne, Michal Neuvirth, Louis Robitaille, and Stephen Werner were also cut.