Morning Skate Deluxe: Saturday, 3/21

Tonight’s Slate:
Stars @ Sharks, 4:00 ET
Capitals @ Hurricanes, 7:00
Maple Leafs @ Canadiens, 7:00
Sabres @ Rangers, 7:00
Islanders @ Senators, 7:00
Blue Jackets @ Panthers, 7:00
Thrashers @ Lightning, 7:30
Canucks @ Coyotes, 10:00

Games of the Night:
Game #1: Dallas Stars @ San Jose Sharks
4:00 ET… TV: Local Networks

Records:
Overall: Stars (33-30-8) … Sharks (46-14-10)
Last Ten: Stars (4-5-1) … Sharks (4-5-1)
Away/Home: Stars (14-17-4) … Sharks (28-3-4)
Season Series: 4-1 Sharks

Players to watch:
DAL- Loui Eriksson
With their main offensive guys injured, Dallas needs Eriksson’s scoring touch today.
SJ- Joe Thornton
Big Joe has owned Dallas in his career.

Projected Goaltenders:
DAL- Marty Turco (08-09 stats: 32-27-8, 2.81 GAA)
SJ- Evgeni Nabokov (08-09 stats: 35-8-7, 2.42 GAA)

Injury Report:
DAL- Mike Modano (lower body, questionable), Steve Begin (upper body, questionable), Brad Richards (wrist, out), Brendan Morrow (knee, out), Toby Petersen (foot, out), Sergei Zubov (hip, out)
SJ- Christian Ehrhoff (lower body, questionable), Ryan Clowe (lower body, out), Torrey Mitchell (leg, out), Mike Grier (knee, out), Claude Lemieux (jaw, out), Tomas Plihal (lower body, out), Jeremy Roenick (shoulder, out), Kent Huskins (foot, out)

Game Thoughts:
Look at all of those injuries… holy crap! This is not the time to be loading up your IR. Anyhoo, this should be a 60-minute battle between two rivals. The Stars are struggling, and lost their first 2 road games of this trip in Vancouver & Calgary. San Jose, though, has also been sputtering, and is looking to keep pace with the red-hot Red Wings. It’ll be a boring, close game with the Sharks edging the Stars.

Prediction: Sharks 2, Stars 1
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Game #2: Washington Capitals @ Carolina Hurricanes
7:00 ET… TV: Local Networks

Records:
Overall: Capitals (45-22-6) … Hurricanes (38-28-7)
Last Ten: Capitals (5-4-1) … Hurricanes (6-2-2)
Away/Home: Capitals (19-13-4) … Hurricanes (21-13-1)
Season Series: 3-2 Capitals

Players to watch:
WSH- Alexander Ovechkin
Will AO have another goal celebration up his sleeve!?
CAR- Eric Staal
Staal is usually at his best when he faces Washington.

Projected Goaltenders:
WSH- Jose Theodore (08-09 stats: 28-15-4, 2.81 GAA)
CAR- Cam Ward (Last night vs. NYI: 28 Saves, 4 GA)

Injury Report:
WSH- Donald Brashear (knee, out), Chris Clark (wrist, out), Boyd Gordon (finger, out), Brent Johnson (hip, out)
CAR- Scott Walker (upper body, doubtful)

Game Thoughts:
Carolina is coming on a high note after their 3rd period rally last night against the Isles. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond tonight. Will they have trouble generating much against the Caps, or carry it over and come out flying?? I think the former is more realistic, and that Washington will win their 3rd in a row… but it won’t be easy.

Prediction: Capitals 4, Hurricanes 3 (SO)
The rest of today’s predictions:
Canadiens over Maple Leafs
Rangers over Sabres
Senators over Islanders
Panthers over Blue Jackets
Lightning over Thrashers
Canucks over Coyotes