Pregame Notes: Washington Capitals at. New York Rangers

 The Caps are at MSG for early season showdown between two of the best teams in the Eastern Conference. The Rangers broke the hearts of all us Caps fans last year in a long 7 game series that ended when Derek Stepan scored in overtime. Tonight though begins another season series. Here is the lineup for tonight's game.


Forwards:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Johansson-Backstrom-Williams
Chimera-Beagle-Burakovsky
Laich-Stephenson-Wilson


Defense and Goalies:

Orpik-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Orlov-Schmidt


Holtby
Grubauer


Other Notes:

*Braden Holtby and Henrik Lundqvist will face each other in what will be a monumental goaltending matchup. The two went back and forth in the playoffs last year. Caps need to put a lot of pucks and Hank and get traffic in front of the net.

*This is the first time the Rangers will face the Caps with T.J Oshie and Justin Williams. It will be interesting to see if the Caps offseason moves will make things different tonight.

*The biggest worries I have for tonight are the Caps 4th line and 3rd defense pair. The Rangers have 4 solid lines that can attack. Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt need to make good passes and cut down turnovers.

*I said before the Caps have to get traffic in front of the net, that means guys like T.J Oshie and Marcus Johansson will need to try to distract Lundqvist.

*Chander Stephenson has been ok so far, he's young. He will need to play well tonight, he won't get a ton of ice time but has to be solid defensively when he is in.

*The Caps have to stay out of the box, I know the PK has been pretty good but the more 5 on 5 they play the better. Powerplay's can change momentum of a game.

*Another thing is when the Caps get the powerplay they need to simplify and shoot the puck, don't force it to OV every shot because the Rangers know the Caps powerplay like the back of their hands.

*Overall a win tonight will not change what happened back in May, however, it can be a step in making a statement to the rest of the East that the Caps are a different animal this year.


Gametime 7:00 p.m on CSN