Game Day: Caps Host Senators

After Tuesday's exciting game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Capitals will face another foe from the Great White North as the Ottawa Senators roll into Verizon Center this evening. Two Caps will be celebrating their contract extensions, David Steckel and Tyler Sloan, while d-man Karl Alzner won't see action tonight as he was sent back to Hershey yesterday. The boys expect to see Brian Pothier back in the lineup after being injured with a cracked rib.

The Senators are coming off a 4-1 whupping at the hands of the Boston Bruins on Tuesday and their coach has expressed concern about the recent performances by their net minders. For their sake, they'd better pray for improved efforts tonight from whoever is in net as the Caps' offense was on fire Tuesday night. The Senators do have some lamp lighters of their own however, in the form of Carrie Underwood's dreamy fiancee Mike Fisher (15 goals), Milan Michalek (16 goals) and Alex Kovalev (AK27 with 11 goals). And historically, they can get a bit chippy in the process courtesy of the thugly Chris Neil and Jarko Ruutu. Speaking of antonagonists, how about uber-pest Sean Avery's 4-point night against his former Dallas Stars team last night? Maybe some payback for the whole "sloppy seconds" drama last season...who knows?

The Caps take to the ice against Ottawa tonight at 7 p.m. Meanwhile, one of HM's twins will be visiting the home of the Senators next week as his team will play in a Canadian tournament in the lovely city of Ottawa over Martin Luther King weekend. Sadly HM will miss the trip as the boys are on different teams this year and I pulled the short straw to stay home with the other boy (who gets to accompany me to the Caps/Flyers game as a consolation prize - not a bad deal, huh?). The team and families will be headed up on a 14-hour bus ride commencing at 4:30 in the morning - now that part I won't miss! Hope to get some great pictures from my fellow fabulous hockey moms to share...