SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Big Day Coming - For more than a decade and a half now, games between the Caps and the Pittsburgh Penguins have carried the added luster of the two teams' top talents, Washington's Alex Ovechkin and Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby. The two organizations have been successful over most of the careers of their two captains, who both debuted in the NHL on the same night, Oct. 5, 2005.

The two teams carry the longest current playoff streaks in the League; Pittsburgh has made the playoffs for 16 straight seasons while Washington's streak is at eight, and the Caps have appeared in 14 of the last 15 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
With 821 career goals now, Ovechkin has climbed to second on the NHL's all-time goals list. Crosby enters tonight's game six points shy of becoming just the 15th player in NHL history to record as many as 1,500 points.
But both clubs have had their troubles and travails this season. Pittsburgh is sitting in the second wild card spot going into tonight's meeting between the two rivals, but the Pens are only a point ahead of ninth-place Florida and Pittsburgh has dropped five of its last six games (1-5-0).
Washington's situation is even more dire. The Caps haven't been able to string together as many as three consecutive victories in almost exactly three months now, and the occupy 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, trailing the Pens by four points in the standings. Pittsburgh also holds a game in hand.
"Certainly Alex is chipping away at things, and 1,500 points for Sidney is pretty spectacular as well," says Caps' coach Peter Laviolette. "But those things didn't come up [in pregame meetings] this morning. The focus was on the game and the two points. It's a big one for them and a big one for us. Those type of games usually lend themselves to be good hockey games, so there's a lot on the line tonight, and I think the guys know that.
Tonight in Pittsburgh, in Game No. 74 of the regular season for Washington, the Caps face a must-win situation merely to keep their already faint playoff hopes breathing.
"We've talked about this the last couple of weeks here in the locker room," says Caps' center Nicklas Backstrom. "We've got to take it one game at a time, and looking at the standings, tonight's game is probably one of the biggest games for us, and we need to win this so we can still be in the race."
Cycle Of Hurt -The Caps come into tonight's game on the heels of a 6-1 win over Chicago on Thursday, a game that marked the return of defenseman John Carlson after a three-month absence, and one that found the Caps at their peak point of health on the season to date. Washington entered that game against the Hawks with just two players unavailable because of injury.
Alas, the number of ailing players has has climbed once again in the two days since the victory over Chicago. Left wing Sonny Milano suffered an upper body injury that is likely to keep him out for a week or more, and the Caps will need to make a lineup adjustment again tonight, as they have had to do for every game they've played for over a month now.
Aliaksei Protas, who has played so well of late on Washington's fourth line, will slide up to occupy Milano's vacated slot on Nicklas Backstrom's line, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel will draw back into the lineup on the right side of the Nic Dowd trio. Protas has an assist in each of his last two games.
"I think he's played really well," says Laviolette. "He's fast, he's big, he's competitive. It's nice that he's chipped in a few points here recently; you like to see him get rewarded for some of the work that he does out there maybe a little bit more, because he does turn things over in the offensive zone, and he does create offense and scoring chances. So it's nice to see him and that line have a few points.
"But with Sonny out, we've got to move somebody up. And again, his speed, his size, his forecheck and the fact that he's putting a few points on the board right now, we'll move him up."
Hang Your Hopes On A Nail - Back in 1997-98, Laviolette began his coaching career with the Wheeling Nailers of the ECHL. Following a successful 37-24-9 season and a three-round playoff run in Wheeling that season, Laviolette was on to bigger and better things, moving to AHL Providence where he led the P-Bruins to a Calder Cup title the following season. After two season with Providence and one as an assistant coach with the Boston Bruins, Laviolette was ready for prime time, his first NHL head coaching gig with the New York Islanders in 2001-02.
He has coached in every NHL season since, amassing 1,421 games behind the bench to rank 11th all-time in the League. His 751 career victories rank eighth all-time and are tops among American-born coaches in the circuit.
With the Caps in Pittsburgh on Friday night ahead of their Saturday night date with the Pens, Laviolette took a one-hour ride in a southwesterly direction on Interstate 79 to the place where it all started for him, Wheeling, W.V. Prior to Friday night's game between the Nailers and the Kalamazoo Wings, Laviolette was inducted into the Nailers Hall of Fame along with former Nailers captain Brock Woods, who played for the team when it was still known as the Thunderbirds.
"They did a really nice job with it," says Laviolette. "Brock Woods was there; he played a lot of games for that organization and is certainly worthy of being there, and it was nice to share that night with him and his family.
"My wife and son were in town, and my daughter was at [Boston College] playing softball, so she couldn't make it in. And my son being born there and then him being in the game [Friday] night, and being part of the celebration pregame, it was pretty, pretty special. And they did a great job of putting in on, and so I'm honored to be there.
"I was only there for one year, and it kind of launched everything coaching-wise for me, and I was able to establish a career in coaching. But had it not been for that first year in Wheeling where you go and cut your teeth and you're learning on the fly, it was a great opportunity and it's a year that I look back at with just a lot of great memories from the fans, the ownership group, the team that we had and the players that we had. It was really a special first year for me."
In The Nets -Darcy Kuemper gets the start for the Caps tonight in Pittsburgh. Kuemper returned from a two-game injury absence to record his 22nd victory of the season with a 27-save performance against Chicago.
Lifetime against the Penguins, Kuemper is 3-3-1 in seven games (all starts) with a 2.95 GAA and a .911 save pct.
For the Penguins, Casey DeSmith gets the Saturday night start against the Capitals. He will be making his sixth career appearance (all starts) against Washington, and is 3-1-1 with a 2.32 GAA and a .915 save pct. in his prior five outings against the Caps.
All Lined Up -Here's how the Caps and Penguins might look on Saturday night in Pittsburgh:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 17-Strome, 43-Wilson
59-Protas, 19-Backstrom, 77-Oshie
39-Mantha, 92-Kuznetsov, 16-Smith
73-Sheary, 26-Dowd, 96-Aube-Kubel
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
38-Sandin, 3-Jensen
27-Alexeyev, 57-van Riemsdyk
Goaltenders
35-Kuemper
79-Lindgren
Healthy Extras
52-Irwin
Injured/out
15-Milano (upper body)
28-Brown (lower body)
62-Hagelin (hip)
PITTSBURGH
Forwards
59-Guentzel, 87-Crosby, 17-Rust
16-Zucker, 71-Malkin, 67-Rakell
43-Heinen, 25-Poehling, 64-Granlund
10-O'Connor, 77-Carter, 15-Archibald
Defensemen
73-Joseph, 58-Letang
8-Dumoulin, 2-Ruhwedel
52-Friedman, 4-Fedun
Goaltenders
1-DeSmith
40-Tokarski
Healthy Extras
19-Nylander
Injured/out
7-Kulikov (lower body)
13-Bonino (lacerated kidney)
26-Petry (lower body)
28-Pettersson (lower body)
35-Jarry (lower body)
44-Rutta (lower body)