Pre-Cap: Capitals vs Stars

After two regulation losses, there are some concerns about the team. Frankly, I'm more concerned about which team has the bigger nancy: Nicklas Backstrom and his professional hair stylist or Sean Avery and his purse-loving antics...

Pre-Cap time, baby.

Washington Capitals (3-3-1, Last game 2-1 L vs. Phoenix)
vs.
Dallas Stars (3-4-1, Last game 5-3 W vs. NY Islanders)

The story so far...
Another poor effort, another 2 points lost. Can the Capitals wake up against the Stars, or will they be caught sleeping again?

Key players
WSH: Alex Ovechkin, Alex Semin, Jose Theodore, Donald Brashear
DAL: Mike Ribiero, Marty Turco, Mike Modano, Sean Avery

Elite goalie fest continues...
Don't look now but Marty Turco's numbers aren't all that great. At 3-4-1, with a .848 save percentage, the backbone of the Stars team has seen better days. That's what makes him so dangerous: we all knew Theodore wasn't as bad as his Game 1 numbers suggested and taking Turco lightly will likely result in a loss. Also keep in mind that Marty Turco has never lost to the Capitals in his career. He is 3-0-0 with a 1.21 GAA.

Oldie but goodie
In 79 games against the Stars, Sergei Fedorov has 77 points. He has 33 goals, 44 assists and is a +14. So it's not too far-fetched to imagine Fedorov stealing the Russian-born goal-scoring record Saturday night.

An agitator with a nose for fashion
Much of tonight's talk will be focused on a particular Dallas Stars player, known not for his scoring but his agitation abilities. Sean Avery is widely considered the most hated player in the NHL today with a reputation that includes turtling during fights, mouthing off before the game, the infamous "Avery Rule" and the ability to get under anyone's skin. Avery is the type of player you love to have on your team, but hate to play against.

The real story behind Avery isn't just his antics on ice, but his personality off ice. Avery is a fashion buff who frequents runway shows in New York. He worked as an intern at Vogue magazine over the summer and has intelligent opinions on women's fashion. Avery says he has numerous gay friends whom he shops with and even takes teammates on shopping excursions.

In an effort to let you judge the man for yourself, here's two Avery videos that showcase his on-ice and off-ice personality.





As if this pre-cCp couldn't get any stranger
Not really Caps-related but funny enough to check out: If you thought American fans took heckling too far, well, just wait until you see what these Swedes did. It's on the "not safe for work" side so exercise caution.

Still undecided this November?
Marty Turco might be a good write-in candidate.



Caution! Flying skates!
Jamie Heward isn't a Capital anymore, but this video of Mike Modano slicing his face open with his skates is sure to bring about the ire of any Caps fan looking for some reason to hate the Stars tonight. Heward is lucky the skate didn't hit his neck, like former Capital and current Panther Richard Zednik.



Random fact of the day
Dallas has the world's largest wholesale merchandise mart, with 6.9 million square feet.

LET'S GO CAPS