Neuvirth stopped 28 of 30 shots in a loss to the Devils last Friday. Neuvirth is 3-5-1 with a 2.79 GAA and .915 SV% heading into Friday's contest. The Red WIngs get Henrik Zetterberg back tonight, but they still remain a beatable opponent having lost five of eight while being outscored 23-14.

Neuvirth stopped 28 of 30 shots in a loss to the Devils last Friday. Neuvirth is 3-5-1 with a 2.79 GAA and .915 SV% heading into Friday's contest. Depending on what happens in tonight's game, there is a chance that Braden Holtby could start both games of the back-to-back, but for now the plan is for Neuvirth to go.

Neuvirth allowed four goals on 37 shots in a loss to the Penguins on January 15. He will get his eighth start of the season tonight when he takes on the Devils. He enters play with a 0-2-1 record with a 3.13 GAA and .909 SV% on the road this season.

Neuvirth stopped 32 of 34 shots in his return to the net on Friday. Braden Holtby has been a disaster this season, so more strong efforts like this could earn Neuvirth more playing time behind Philip Grubauer. Tonight he faces the Penguins, it is an ugly matchup and likely one that should be avoided.

If you are a hockey fan like we are, you have to watch young Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon score his goal last night against the New York Islanders.  It is just unbelievable to watch.  I could watch this over and over again.  His speed is unreal.  I think that Colorado President Joe Sakic made a good choice with the first pick in the draft.  New York forward, Rick Nash, scored the game winner against Dallas. Nash is vital to the Rangers success, but he has only 33 points on the season, and he has to score more than that for New York to make the playoffs.  Michal Neuvirth got the win in goal for Washington last night over Toronto 3-2,.  This is Neuvirth's first win since November 22.  It is hard to understand Oates' strategy in goal with Washington.  Braden Holtby has allowed 5 goals in each of his last 3 games. Philipp Grubauer has played well in goal with a 6-2-3 record a 2.27 goals against and a .931 save percentage, but Oates may go with Neuvirth for a while.  Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist in the loss for the Maple Leafs. He has 40 points on the season. Top forward option.  After missing 14 games with a groin injury Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has returned with style, as he pitched a shutout against Carolina with 36 saves. His .914 save percentage is not all that good this year, but expect him to get better...Kevin Poulin had 30 saves in yesterday's Islander 2-1 victory over Colorado.    With Evgeni Nabokov out with an injury, Poulin appears to be the goaltender for New York until Nabokov comes back. His numbers are terrible, but his situation is very good.   Big night for Ryan Nugent Hopkins of Edmonton, as he had 2 goals and an assist.  With 35 points on the season he is beginning to show the great talent that he has. Youngster Anton Belov scored his first goal in the NHL for the Oilers.  Love that! ...Eddie Lack is playing great in goal for Vancouver with Roberto Luongo's injury. St Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo had a goal last night and 7 shots on goal.  He has 32 points in 44 games this year, and he is one of the top fantasy defensemen in the NHL.  He has 8 points in his last 5 games.

If you are a hockey fan like we are, you have to watch young Colorado forward Nathan MacKinnon score his his goal last night against the New York Islanders. It is just unbelievable to watch.  I could watch this over and over again.  His speed is unreal.  I think that Colorado President Joe Sakic made a good choice with the first pick in the draft.  New York forward, Rick Nash, scored the game winner against Dallas. Nash is vital to the Rangers success, but he has only 33 points on the season, and he has to score more than that for New York to make the playoffs.  Michal Neuvirth got the win in goal for Washington last night over Toronto 3-2,. This is Neuvirth's first win since November 22.  It is hard to understand Oates' strategy in goal with Washington.  Braden Holtby has allowed 5 goals in each of his last 3 games. Philipp Grubauer has played well in goal with a 6-2-3 record a 2.27 goals against and a .931 save percentage, but Oates may go with Neuvirth for a while. Phil Kessel had a goal and an assist in the loss for the Maple Leafs. He has 40 points on the season. Top forward option.  After missing 14 games with a groin injury Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky has returned with style, as he pitched a shutout against Carolina with 36 saves. His .914 save percentage is not all that good this year, but expect him to get better...Kevin Poulin had 30 saves in yesterday's Islander 2-1 victory over Colorado.   With Evgeni Nabokov out with an injury, Poulin appears to be the goaltender for New York until Nabokov comes back. His numbers are terrible, but his situation is very good.   Big night for Ryan Nugent Hopkins of Edmonton, as he had 2 goals and an assist. With 35 points on the season he is beginning to show the great talent that he has. Youngster Anton Belov scored his first goal in the NHL for the Oilers. Love that! ...Eddie Lack is playing great in goal for Vancouver with Roberto Luongo's injury. St Louis defenseman Alex Pietrangelo had a goal last night and 7 shots on goal. He has 32 points in 44 games this year, and he is one of the top fantasy defensemen in the NHL.  He has 8 points in his last 5 games.

Tonight will mark Neuvirth's first start since November 22. He allowed three goals on 31 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Canadiens that night. It has been a difficult season for Neuvirth who has battled injury and now has become the apparent number-3 in Washington. In five starts and seven appearances this season he is 2-3-1 with a 2.83 GAA and .912 SV%. He will face a Maple Leaf squad who have lost three straight while being outscored 18-5.

Washington Capitals Head Coach Adam Oates looks to be throwing a monkey wrench into the Caps goaltending situation as he will start 22 years old German goaltender Philipp Grubauer for the 5th straight game tonight, putting Brayden Holtby back on the bench again even though he is not hurt, and likely sending Michal Neuvirth to his 9th straight healthy scratch. This even after Grubauer lost his last 2 games against Buffalo and Ottawa. In his defense he played extremely well in both games allowing only 3 goals total. Now Oates is playing with Holtby's confidence here, and he should be a little careful, because Grubauer is still mostly an unknow quantity with only 10 NHL games played so far.  Holtby was the nominal starter at the beginning of the season and he played well in October and November.  In November he went 8-3-1 with a nice .933 savepercentage.  But the wheels suddenly went off the track for Holtby in December as he won only one game in the month and played in only 5 games.  His save percentage dropped to .863 in the month.  On November 30 backup goalie Neuvirth stepped on the puck at pratice and went down with an injury.  Oates called up Grubauer from Hershey of the AHL where he had been playing well.  But I'm sure he didn't expect Grubauer to make such an immediate impact going 5-2-2 with a 2.02 goals against and a .938 save percentage.  Now Holtby's overall numbers this season are decent with a 13-10-2 record 3.00 goals against and a .915 save percentage.  But he has been bad lately.  If Grubauer plays well again tonight Oates will most likely give him another straight start.  There is some grumbling among the Caps fans that new Head Goaltender Coach Olaf Kolzig is changing Holtby's style too much, preaching him patience instead of using an aggressive style. There are a lot of goaltender ghosts around Washington's recent inability to get past the second round in the playoffs. Goaltenders have been brought in like Cristobal Huet, Jose Theodore, Semyon Varlamov Michal Neuvirth and Tomas Vokoun and have gone away without playoff success.  You could make a point that the reason that the Caps lost to the Rangers in the last 3 straight playoff series was because New York had Henrik Lundqvist and Washington didn't.  He only shut them out twice in a row in games 6 and 7 last season. Now this could play out several ways. And actually Oates line is that the goaltending situation will play itself out over time.  Poolies want to know how much time? On the...

Neuvirth (ankle) has missed the last seven games, but will likely start tomorrow in the AHL and should be back with the Capitals next week.

With Philipp Grubauer winning his start on Sunday and proving to be a capable backup, there is no reason for the Capitals to rush Neuvirth back. He will likely miss his sixth straight game tonight unless he is activated from IR after the morning skate.