Pregame Notes: Washington Capitals at. Montreal Canadians

 The Caps are on the road to start a three game road trip against the Atlantic Division leaders in the Montreal Canadians. If the season ended today then this would be a first round matchup. A lot is on the line as the Caps can pass the Penguins for 3rd in the Metro with a win, and they can move into 2nd if the Islanders lose in Columbus tonight. Here is the lineup for tonight's game.


Forwards:

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


Defense and Goalies:

Orpik-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Gleason-Green


Holtby
Peters



Other Notes:

*The Caps have recalled defensemen Dmitry Orlov from his conditioning stint with the Hershey Bears. I doubt this late in the season that Orlov will play but it is good to see him finally getting better.

*Tonight will be round two between Carey Price and Braden Holtby, the two were involved in one heck of a goalie dual the last time the Caps were in Montreal.

*Evgeny Kuznetsov has played great with Alex Ovechkin and is starting to produce points on a more regular basis then what he was early in the season.

*Alex Ovechkin is one goal away from passing Peter Bondra for the Caps all-time lead in goals. The impressive thing is that OV is not even 30 yet and he is quickly approaching 500 career goals which he should get next season.

*Mike Green in my opinion has played very well since the acquisition of Tim Gleason. Gleason has been good at staying home, which then allows Mike Green to jump up in the play.

*The key for the Caps tonight is to get traffic infront of Carey Price, he is a great goalie and many peoples pick to be the MVP of the NHL this season. The Caps will need to get rebounds and defelections, as well as screen shots to beat him. It will be very tough to beat him if he sees the puck.

*Tonight is going to be a playoff type game in Montreal. It is a tough place to play and the Canadians are a good team. The Caps can get another step closer to clinching a spot in the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs if they win tonight. We will see but it should be a good game.


Gametime 7:30 pm on CSN