Capitals at Maple Leafs
THE STORY: Programs for Saturday's tilt between the Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs will be a valuable commodity at the Air Canada Centre. The sellout crowd might need one to recognize who is suiting up for the home side. The injury bug has struck the Maple Leafs in debilitating fashion, with no fewer than six regulars out of the lineup. An already shorthanded lineup was battered even further in Thursday's 4-1 loss to Nashville, with center Matthew Lombardi and defenseman Mike Komisarek joining forwards Clarke MacArthur, Colby Armstrong and Mikhail Grabovski and goaltender James Reimer on the infirm list. They'll face a Washington club that has sputtered over the last few weeks, going 3-6-1 since opening the season with seven consecutive victories. A win would move the Capitals back to .500 on the road for the season.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CBC, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.
ABOUT THE CAPITALS (10-6-1): Nothing is going right for Washington of late, as the club has been outscored 10-2 in three consecutive losses. Star winger Alex Ovechkin's season-long struggles have now begun to worry even the most patient of Capitals fans, as he's on pace for a 68-point season and is taking two fewer shots per game than a season ago. The good news? He has eviscerated Toronto in his career, scoring 23 goals and adding 16 assists in 23 career games.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (10-7-2): Getting injury news from Toronto head coach Ron Wilson has become more difficult than ever before. After a local beat writer contacted Reimer's mother for news on her son's concussion, Wilson declared war on Toronto media, vowing to give as little injury information as possible. As a result, all recent injured players are suffering through, as Wilson calls them, "upper-body injuries." Grabovski, Lombardi and Komisarek are each expected to miss the next three weeks.
OVERTIME:
1. Washington has won four of the last five meetings between the clubs, including the last two encounters at the Air Canada Centre.
2. NHL scoring leader Phil Kessel will need to pick up his game against the Capitals. The 23-year-old has just three goals and seven assists in 23 career games vs. Washington.