The Washington Capitals do a rarity tonight so far this season, but one that will become all so familiar starting tonight, they play a Southeast Division opponent.  Caps face off against the struggling Carolina Hurricanes in Carolina this evening.  To date, the Caps have played 26 games, only 4 against division rivals.  They face Southeast division opponents in 4 of their next 7 games.

Here are some Game Preview for tonight:  NHL.com, Official Caps site,  Peerless, Caps Nut, Sporting News

Our friends at On Frozen Blog have an excellent analysis piece on the Caps weakness, a weakness that we see often and is overly annoying, the ability to play down in the third period.  Go read it.

What’s up with Dave Steckel?  On the one hand, Steckel is a master of face offs for the Caps.  he currently sits at 2nd overall in the NHL in face off wins with a 62.5% success rate, just behind NHL leader Paul Gaustad.  Scoring wise though, Steckel has yet to record a goal and has just 2 assists in 26 games.

As the Washington Post notes, it is not from lacking of scoring opportunities.

“I’ve been trying everything,” he said. “I just can’t buy a bounce. It’s frustrating, but the thing is if I worry about that instead of penalty killing or faceoffs, it’s going to get worse.”

An example of his futility came Saturday in Montreal, where he had at least three chances to score. The best came in the second period, when, after Canadiens goaltender Carey Price turned away Alex Ovechkin and then Jay Beagle, Steckel whiffed on a rebound.

Steckel conceded that it’s sometimes hard to block out his drought.

“I don’t want to think too much about it,” he said. “I’ve gone through games where I’ve thought so much about scoring that it’s taken away from everything else.”

The question I have is, when the first goal comes, does a feast occur or will it go back to famine for Steck?  One thing is clear to me though, despite his lack of scoring Steckel is important to this team both in terms of face offs and special teams play.  That is where Steckel excels.  Caps owner Ted Leonsis agrees.

Whether David has scored a goal or not this season is not that important. He is vital to our team and to his teammates. We win as a team and we lose as a team.

We respect his game. We value him. He is important to us, his teammates and to the fan base.

David will score goals but he needs to know he is respected and embraced and that we appreciate what he does for our team when he isn’t scoring goals.

Other Notes:

Jose Theodore was on the ice first at practice this morning, likely meaning Theo makes the start tonight in Carolina.

Down in the Minors:

The Hershey Bears (AHL) played a back to back to back weekend and walked out 2-1.  They scored 14 goals this weekend.

On Friday night, the Bears unleashed 5 goals and defeated Adirondack 5-1 on the road.  Veteran Boyd Kane scored twice and new South Carolina call up Michael Dubuc added a goal for the Bears.  2008 first rounder John Carlson added 3 assists.  Andrew Gordon and Kyle Wilson added goals and Hershey netminder Michael Neuvirth stopped 20 of 21 shots for the win.

Saturday night was not so kind of the Bears at the Giant Center.  Bears fell to Adirondack, this time at home, 5-4.  Jason Bacashihua stopped 20 fo 25 shots to take the loss for the Bears.  Dubuc scored again for Hershey and added an assist, a two point night.  Gordon and Wilson added goals for the second night and Darren Reid netted one.  D Zach Miskovick added three assists from the blue line.

On Sunday, Neuvirth returned tot he net an impressed even more, stopping a huge 42 shots on goal for his first shutout of the season for the Bears.  Bears pounded Wilkes-Barre-Scranton 5-0.  Gordon again provided offensive punch, scoring a goal in the third consecutive night and adding an assist.  Boyd Jane scored twice and Kyle Wilson scored for the third consecutive night.

Hershey Bears Leaderboard

Goals:   ANDREW GORDON, 11

PP Goals:   ANDREW GORDON, 6

Assists:   ALEXANDRE GIROUX, 17

Points:   ALEXANDRE GIROUX, 27

+ / – :    JOHN CARLSON, KARL ALZNER, +14

PIM:   GREG AMADIO, 54

W/L:   MICHAEL NEUVIRTH, 8-4

GAA:  MICHAEL NEUVIRTH, 2.09

Save%:  MICHAEL NEUVIRTH, JASON BACASHIHUE, .926

The South Carolina Stingrays defeated Johnstown 5-1 on Friday night.  Matt Fornataro scored a goal, had 2 assist and was a +3 on the night.  Jake Hauswirth, Nakita Kashirsky, and Dylan Yeo added goals for the Rays.  Braden Holtby survived an onslaught, stopping 45 of 46 shots to preserve the win.

The Rays defeated Toledo 5-3 on Saturday night.  Josh Godfrey, Spencer Carbery, DainPrewitt, Fornato, and Rob Ricci all scored for the Rays.  Todd Ford stopped 36 of 39 shots for the win.

The Rays finished a weekend sweep defeating Toledo again on Sunday 5-4.  Zacvh Tarkir, Gregg Johnson, Keith Johnson,a nd Fornato scored.  Fortnato laso had 2 assists.  For the weekend, Fornato compiled 3 goals and 4 assists for an impressive 7 point weekend.  Holtby picked up the win, stopping 33 of 37 shots.

South Carolina Stingrays Leaderboard

Goals:   NAKITA KASHIRSKY, 11

PP Goals:   MATT FORNATARO, ZACH TARKIR, 3

Assists:   ZACH TARKIR, KEITH JOHNSON, 12

Points:   NAKITA KASHIRSKY, KIETH JOHNSON, MATT FORNATARO, 18

+ / – :   MATT SCHERER, +9

PIM:   SPENCER CARBERY, 59

W/L:   TODD FORD, 7-4

GAA:   BRADEN HOLTBY, 2.94

Save%:   BRADEN HOLTBY, .912