Gameday: at Winnipeg, Nov. 17

Oh, hey, those uniforms are different!

The Washington Capitals will be in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on Thursday night as they attempt to shake their two game losing streak against the newly minted Jets.  The Capitals enter tonight's action 10-5-1, which gives them 21 standings points coming off a 3-1 loss to the Predators on Tuesday.  With those 21 points, the Caps lead the Southeast Division based only on winning percentage, and are third in the Eastern Conference solely because of the fact that they are winning the Division.  Winnipeg comes into tonight's game at 6-9-3 for 15 standings points following a 5-2 trouncing of the Lightning on Monday night.  The Jets stand last in the Southeast and fourteenth in the Conference with those 15 points.  This will be the first of six meetings between these two teams this season.

Ondrej Pavelec is expected to get the call in nets from Claude Noel, his eleventh consecutive start.  Pavelec has struggled so far for Winnipeg to the tune of a 5-7-3 record, 3.26 GAA, and .895 save percentage, though he does have a shutout this year.  Pavelec also dominated the Caps last year, shutting them out twice, and is sure to be a tough test despite his subpar numbers so far on the campaign. The Jets will be without star puck-moving defenseman Tobias Enstrom (shoulder) and former Cap Eric Fehr (shoulder) in terms of injuries, and have yet to field their full lineup so far this year.

Michal Neuvirth will get the tap on the pads from Bruce Boudreau for the first time since last Saturday.  On the year Neuvy is 2-2-1 with a 3.14 GAA and .891 save percentage, and made 17 saves in his last outing, a 3-2 shootout loss to New Jersey.  On the injury front, Mike Green is still out with a right groin strain and is not even on the trip; in fact, Green has not skated since he injured himself last week.  Here we go again.  Mathieu Perreault should be the healthy scratch for Washington for the second game in a row.

Puck drops for this one 8:07-ish.  Check back later.