The Caps are wrapping up the morning skate here at Sommet Center. Tonight's lineup will be the same as last game, which means no Chris Clark. He said he will likely skate tomorrow morning in Chicago even if the team does not and did not rule himself out for the Blackhawks.

"It is tough to say, but it is not getting worse, so that is a step forward, I guess," Clark said.

Olie Kolzig is still out on the ice with healthy scratches Quintin Laing and Steve Eminger (along with Brent Johnson), so expect to see Kolzig on the bench tonight backing up Cristobal Huet.

Many of the Caps have never played in this buidling and weren't with the team in 2005-06 when they played Nasvhille at Verizon Center. One of the team's new additions, Matt Cooke, has seen the Predators four times this season, so I enlisted his help for a scouting report.

"They are a different team at home than they are on the road," Cooke said. "They come out extremely hard and fast, trying to score a couple early and take the wind out of your sails. They are a fast, puck-moving hockey club."

"Weber, Hamhuis and Zidlicky are all good players. They are good defensemen who are great offensively as well. Zidlicky is looking to go a lot like Green does. Up front, they have Radulov and Dumont who have been playing very well for them. Dumont is a power guy. Erat is pretty shifty. They also have a couple of good checking lines."

"[Tootoo] is guy who is going to finish his check, no matter how late it is. He hits hard, and I give him credit -- he plays physical. But you can catch him running around as well."

Obviously this is a big one for both teams. The Predators are four points back of eighth place in the Western Conference, and the Caps are just two shy of eighth in the East. Philadelphia hosts cap-sizing Atlanta tonight, but the Caps can put two points of separation between them and idle Florida, as well as pass idle Buffalo for ninth in the conference.