The Caps aren’t about to complain about injuries – though they’ve endured their share this season. But if at today’s morning skate Bruce Boudreau had decided to whine about missing, say, Alex Semin or Tom Poti or both his young goalies then I’m pretty sure Rangers coach John Tortorella would have jumped into the media scrum and scissor-kicked him in the head. That is a man dealing with injury issues.  

New York is missing eight regulars total and forward Brandon Prust is expected to play hurt with a foot injury. The list is almost frightening: Defenseman Dan Girardi (rib); forward Brandon Dubinsky (fractured left leg); forward Ruslan Fedotenko (left shoulder); forward Alexander Frolov (right ACL tear); forward Ryan Callahan (broken left hand); forward Vinny Prospal (knee surgery); forward Erik Christensen (sprained MCL); forward Derek Boogaard (concussion).

You can’t take any opponent lightly. But this isn’t exactly the team Washington lost to Dec. 12 at Madison Square Garden, 7-0. The Rangers also aren’t playing No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Instead, Martin Biron is in net. That’s likely because New York is playing for the eighth time in 13 days and has another game tomorrow at Florida.

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