Peepin' Foes: Washington Capitals

The Blueshirts are back on Broadway Tuesday night looking to build off their win in Ottawa against the Washington Capitals. The game is due to start at 7 pm, will be on Versus and is sure to be entertaining. Not the Versus telecast - that will likely suck - but the game itself.

Alexander Ovechkin is due to return, which certainly presents one heckuva quandary: on one hand we will be privileged enough to see the best hockey player on the planet - something hockey fans in, say, Switzerland will never get to witness in person. On the other hand, why the hell does he have to come back against us? Isn't it bad enough that the Rangers have won just three of their last eight games? It's not faaairrrrrrr!!!!!!!

*stamps feet and pouts*

Where We Are: Playing the Caps for the second time this season, the first being a cardiac-inducing 4-3 win in the Phone Booth amid that 7-0 run last month. Yes, it really was only last month. Feels like quite longer, donnit?

Where They Are: Looking to bounce back from a 5-2 loss to the Devils. They lost to Jersey on the fourth, won four games in a row and then lost to Jersey again. How depressing. If the Rangers lost two straight to Mmmaaaarrrtttyyy I'd be borderline suicidal, or in a murderous rage; either way, it ain't good to be the Rangers.

Who To Watch For: Oh, there are a few guys. Ovechkin, Semin, Backstrom and Green are all upper echelon. Brooks Laich, Brendan Morrison and Tomas Fleischmann are successfully providing secondary scoring and rookie Mathieu Perreault has five points in his first six NHL games. Mike Knuble is out after finger surgery, so that's something. Right?

What To Watch For: Ranger discipline - they have given their last two opponents 11 power plays with Atlanta scoring twice. The kill was spectacular against Ottawa, but let's face it, the Sens don't have the power play talent that Washington has. The Caps don't have a goon so this would be the perfect chance for Brashear to do some damage, send a message and cause chaos (like he did against us when Torts stupidly benched Colton Orr in the playoffs) but let's face it, he hasn't contributed anything to the team so far so why would things change now?

What We'll (Hopefully) See: Everyone's favourite ex-Ranger Tom Poti to play like he did while wearing a Blueshirt and cause his team to lose with half-hearted, stupid play ... essentially to out-Poti Rozsival. Sean Avery to remember that he is Sean Avery. Someone other than Gabby or Prospal to score, preferably Cally as he has one goal in the last 14 games. Marc Staal to continue his stellar work shutting down Ovie, Dan Girardi to keep blocking pucks and someone to remember to cover Nick Backstrom every minute of every shift because he is scary good.

Also Check Out: Japer's Rink rocks the block - and if you can't make it to the Garden, head over there to hang out during the game because they are some fun folks. But don't troll, they don't like trolls. There are plenty of other Caps blogs out there, but why go elsewhere after you went to the best?