Gameday: at Philadelphia, Oct. 20

Florida was Florida.  Time to up the game a little bit.

The Washington Capitals are in Philadelphia this evening to take on the Flyers as they look to continue their stellar start to the 2011-12 campaign. Washington comes into tonight's contest 5-0-0 for the first time in franchise history, coming off their dominant 3-0 win over the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.  Those five wins in five games give them ten standings points, which paces both the Southeast Division and the Eastern Conference.  The totally revamped Flyers have gotten off to an equally impressive start to their year, as they are 4-0-1 for nine standings points, which is second in the Northeast Division and fourth in the East.  Philadelphia crushed the Senators their last time out, 7-2.  This is the first of four meetings between these two teams this year.

Peter Laviolette will give the call in nets to his $50 million dollar man, Ilya Bryzgalov.  The former Coyotes and Ducks stopper has been superb since signing his massive free agent deal this offseason, posting a 3-0-1 record in four starts to go along with a 1.99 GAA, .927 save percentage, and one shutout.  In terms of their lineup, the Flyers are missing defensive and faceoff specialist Blair Betts due to an injury that has kept him out all season.  Other than that, though, Philadelphia brings all of their big guns to the table for tonight's game, including some number 68 guy.  The Flyers will also debut shiny prospect Brayden Schenn, the crown jewel of the Mike Richards deal, tonight after he was recalled yesterday.

Bruce Boudreau is expected to start Tomas Vokoun in goal, his fifth consecutive start in the Washington blue paint.  Vokoun has been absolutely superb the last week, and is coming off his first shutout in a Washington uniform; that came Tuesday night against the Panthers.  On the year, Vokoun has posted a 4-0-0 record so far, which is accompanied by a 1.94 GAA, .935 save percentage, and the one aforementioned shutout.  On the injury front, Washington is still missing the services of Tom Poti (groin), John Erskine (shoulder), and Jay Beagle (face/head).  DJ King is expected to be the healthy scratch for the second consecutive game.

Puck drops 7:09-ish.  Check back later.