Pregame Notes: Washington Capitals at. Florida Panthers

 The Caps are back in action again as they are in Sunrise, Florida to take on the surprising Florida Panthers. The Panthers are currently 12-8-8 with 32 points and are playing very well. The Caps are also starting to play well so this could be a good matchup tonight. Here is the lineup based on the morning skate.


Forwards:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Brouwer
Laich-Fehr-Ward
Chimera-Latta-Beagle


Defense and Goalies:

Orpik-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Schmidt-Green


Holtby
Peters


What to Watch:

*Jason Chimera appears to be returning to the lineup tonight after being a healthy scratch Saturday against the Lightning. Chimmer was embarrassed that he was a scratch so I expect to see him play one of his best games of his season tonight.

*Alex Ovechkin has been a little bit quiet when it comes to goals lately but I still think he is playing pretty well. The top line was the catalyst to beating the Lightning twice last week.

*Braden Holtby will start again in net for the Caps, while the Panthers are going to go with Roberto Luongo. The Caps took on Al Montoya in their previous game where the Caps won 2-1 in a shootout.

*It looks like from the morning skate that Andre Burakovsky will watch from the press box again. Barry Trotz has a plan for Burakovsky to practice and watch things and learn. That's why they are going to keep him with the Caps instead of going to the World Junior Championships.

*The Caps have played very well the last 5 games, and if they can have a strong week they may be able to inch closer to the Islanders. The Caps are 9 points back but have two games in hand on the Isles.

*Just a reminder once again the Epix series "Road to the Winter Classic" starts tonight at 10 pm on either Epix.com or NHL.com. Now with the Caps having a later start time the game might still be on. However, you can probably go back and watch from the beginning when you want to.

*The Caps will have to play with an edge tonight, the Panthers are a solid club. The Caps need to play with intensity even though I'm sure their will not be a big crowd in Florida.


*Just a note that the Hershey Bears fell to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pens 3-2 on overtime on Sunday.


*Gametime 7:30 p.m on CSN Plus (Wizards on CSN)