Time: Thursday, 03 December, 2009 at 7:00 PM ET
League: NHL – United States of America

Last 10 matches: Florida 4-3-3; Washington 6-2-2
Its the third of six meetings this season between the Southeast Division rivals. Washington swept a home-and-home series with the Panthers on Nov. 6-7, winning 4-1 at Florida and 7-4 at Washington – a game in which the Caps scored five times in the third period. Washington goaltender Semyon Varlamov is enjoying a terrific first regular season with a 10-1-2 record, a 2.39 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage. He’s 5-0-2 in his last seven starts, allowing only 12 goals in that span. … Weiss has 7 points during a four-game streak, and Nathan Horton is 4-9-13 in his last 11 games.
Florida is still without Kenndal McArdle (shoulder), David Booth (concussion) and Cory Stillman (knee). Goalie Tomas Vokoun, whacked by the stick of teammate Keith Ballard on Monday, didn’t dress against the Avs. … Still on injured reserve for Washington are Semin (wrist) and fellow forwards Mike Knuble (broken finger), Boyd Gordon (back) and Quintin Laing (broken jaw). Morrisonn and Poti are day-to-day.
The Capitals are playing the first of two games without their big gun, Alex Ovechkin, who was suspended for two games for a knee-to-knee collision with Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason on Monday. He’ll also have to sit out Saturday’s game at Philadelphia but will be able to return Monday against TampaBay. He was also injured on the play.
The Panthers had to work a little extra on Wednesday before ending their five-game losing streak. Florida blew a 5-3 lead in the final minute before Stephen Weiss tacked on a shootout goal to go with his hat trick in regulation to give Florida a 6-5 win over Colorado. Results and goal’s highlights, will be available soon..