Gameday: vs. Winnipeg, Nov. 23

"No, Sasha, shots vodka got you benched."

The Washington Capitals will welcome the Winnipeg Jets to Verizon Center Wednesday night for a Thanksgiving eve contest as they attempt to build a winning streak after their 4-3 win over the Coyotes on Monday.  The Caps enter tonight's contest 11-7-1 for 23 points, which places them second in the Eastern Conference and eighth in the Eastern Conference.  Winnipeg, on the other hand, are 8-9-3 for 19 points, and have won three games in a row including a 6-4 defeat of the Flyers on Saturday night.  The Jets' 19 points have them fourth in the Southeast and twelfth in the East.  This is the second of six meetings between these two teams this season; the Jets lead the series 1-0 after smoking the Caps 4-1 inside MTS Centre last week.

Ondrej Pavelec will earn the start in goal for head coach Claude Noel.  Pavelec's overall numbers this season look supbar at 7-7-3 with a 3.17 GAA and .898 save percentage, but Pavelec is certified Cap killer, shutting them out twice last year and already owning a 31 save masterpiece in last week's game.  Washington's sputtering offense has a tough task ahead.  The Jets are missing their second-best defenseman in puck mover and power play quarterback Tobias Enstrom, but are otherwise fully healthy for this important Divisonal clash.

Following his win over Phoenix on Monday, Tomas Vokoun seems the logical goaltender for Bruce Boudreau to go with for tonight's game.  Vokoun has played his way to a 9-4-0 record this season, along with a 2.64 GAA and .912 save percentage; he made 20 saves in that 4-3 win over the Coyotes.  On the injury front, Mike Green (knee/groin) and John Erskine (shoulder) are both out, which means that Dmitry Orlov will remain in the lineup.  The healthy scratch among the forward corps will be Joel Ward, as he slept in and missed a team meeting earlier in the week.  A weird guy to be on the chopping block.

That's all for now.  Check back later.