Caps @ Senators 12-29-2007 Preview

Washington Capitals (14-24; 33 points) @ Ottawa Senators (25-12; 54 points):
Caps Game #39, Road Game #21, NHL Game #562

ScotiaBank Place, Kanata, Ontario, Canada. 7:07 pm. Washington TV: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic Plus. Radio: WWWT 1500-AM, 107.7 FM. Ottawa TV: None. Radio: TEAM 1200-AM. Canadian National TV: CBC. NHL Center Ice: Comcast Sportsnet Mid-Atlantic Plus feed.

Tonight the Caps begin to wrap up the season series with Ottawa by visiting the Canadian capitol city for the second and final time this season. The first visit yielded a surprise 4-1 Caps win that ended Ottawa's franchise record 8 game winning streak. The Senators hit a speed bump earlier this month but have straightened things back out and have won three in a row. Their most recent win was Thursday night on home ice against the Islanders by a score of 5-2. The Caps and Senators will meet twice more in Washington the next 17 days.

What The Natives Are Saying:

(Com)Post. Times. Caps.com

Neutral Views:

NHL.com AP Wire.

Open Source Intelligence:

Ottawa Citizen: Emery ejected, focus on tonight, gameday. Ottawa Sun: sickened, Emery over, gameday. Senators.com.

What Do I Expect Tonight?:

The Senators clearly remember what happened the last time these two teams met; so tonight could get real ugly real quickly if the Caps are not ready to play. And even if the Caps are ready to play, it could still get real ugly real quickly. The Caps only hope is that the Ray Emery soap opera distracts the Senators to the point that the Caps can take advantage. But Emery is clearly the backup so don't count on that happening unless he kneecaps Martin Gerber in warmups. The good news is that only hardcore Caps and Senators fans will be watching this game tonight with the proceedings in the Joisey swamps tonight drawing 99.99999% of the attention of the sports world tonight.

Caps Nut Official Prediction:

Caps 2
Senators 6
Winner by Spezza

(25-13 on the season)