Gameday: at San Jose, Feb. 17

Can the Capitals build momentum after last night's 7-6 win?

The Washington Capitals are in San Jose, California tonight for their second game in 24 hours and the conclusion of their west coast swing.  Following last night's wild, dramatic win over the Ducks, the Capitals will look to continue their winning ways against a tough Sharks team in a building they have not won in since 1993.  The Caps report for duty tonight fifth in the Eastern Conference and second in the Southeast Division with 70 points in 58 games.  The Sharks, winners of five of their last seven, come into tonight with 68 points in 58 games, which puts them second in the highly competitive Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference.  This is the second and final meeting between these two teams this season; the Sharks won 2-0 at Verizon Center earlier this month.

San Jose Todd McClellan is expected to roll with goaltender Antti Niemi for the 13th consecutive game tonight.  After a rough start to the season following his Stanley Cup winning season last year in Chicago, the Finnish-born netminder has turned it on with a 1.87 GAA, .936 Save%, and two shutouts over the last month as the Sharks have jumped up the Western Conference ladder.  One of those shutouts was a 25-save goose egg at the expense of the Capitals February 8th at Verizon Center.

For the Capitals, Michal Neuvirth is expected to get the nod from Caps coach Bruce Boudreau after he relieved Semyon Varlamov after 40 minutes yesterday and collected the win.  Neuvirth was not stellar by any means, stopping 9 of 12 shots sent his way, but it was enough to get the job done.  As of this writing, no lineup changes are expected except the possible return of Mike Green, who has been sidelined the last two games with "inner ear trauma."  Eric Fehr has continued to skate with the team at practice and morning skates, but is still not expected to return tonight.  Patrick McNeill will not make his NHL debut tonight and will remain a healthy scratch with DJ King.  After the morning skate, it was revealed by Bruce Boudreau that Mike Green will not play, although his tests showed improvement.

Puck drops for this one 10:38-ish.  Check back later.