A shutout loss in the opening game of the 2011-12 preseason was not exactly what the Washington Capitals were looking for, especially in front of a "hometown" crowd in Baltimore. Fortunately, the Caps will have little time to dwell on it as they play their second game in as many nights against the Columbus Blue Jackets Wednesday at Nationwide Arena.
The morning after losing 2-0 to the Nashville Predators, the Caps held a morning skate Wednesday at Kettler Capitals Iceplex and the probable lines for Wednesday are as follows:
Chris Bourque - Mathieu Perreault - Joel Ward
Jason Chimera - Mattias Sjogren - Jacob Micflikier
Matt Hendricks - Jeff Halpern - Jay Beagle
Andrew Carroll - Christian Hanson - Joel Rechlicz
Jeff Schultz - Dennis Wideman
Roman Hamrlik - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Julien Brouillette
Braden Holtby
Philipp Grubauer
The Blue Jackets' lineup will feature Rick Nash, Jeff Carter, Jared Boll, R.J. Umberger, former Caps property Alexandre Giroux and Steve Mason. The Blue Jackets actually played two games at once last night; one team lost 6-1 to the Winnipeg Jets in the latter's first official home game while the other won 5-1 at Nationwide Arena.