Leafs/Caps Preview Nov 19th 2011

Leafs face the Washington Capitals tonight in Toronto at the ACC.  The Leafs and the Caps are both coming off losses, and are only separated in the standings by 1 point (Leafs 22, Caps 21).

Washington: 10-6-1 21 points, good for 1st in the South-East division
Leafs: 10-7-2 - 22 points, good for 2nd in the North-East division

Both Toronto and Washing are struggling, winning only 1 game in both their last 6 games.  For the Leafs, its only the Kessel/Lupul line that has been producing.  They need to have more production from their 2nd and 3rd lines.
The Leafs are missing Komisarek, Lombardi, MacArthur, Grabovski, Reimer, and Armstrong.  If the Leafs want to win this game they are going to have to shut down Ovechkin right from the start.  The kid has 23G and 16A in 23 games played verses the Leafs.

Looks like Gustavsson Gets the start tonight and rightly so.

My prediction is the Leafs win this game 5-4 Kessel 2, Kulemin, Steckel, Connolly. (0-1 is my record)

Connolly is looking for his 400th career point.  He is currently at 399.
This game can be seen on CBC or streamed live from http://www.cbc.ca/sports/