Joe Juneau

Washington Capitals center Joe Juneau always has played with sticks. Tonight, with the official release of the compact disc "Offwings," he trades his hockey stick for drumsticks."

DETROIT -- The Washington Capitals said they were going to be cool, not overexcited last night in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.But nature deemed otherwise.Experiencing their first NHL Finals series in the franchise's 24 years, the Capitals played tentatively in the first period, made two mistakes and allowed the Detroit Red Wings to tuck away the 2-1 victory.The defending Stanley Cup champions got goals from Joe Kocur and Nicklas Lidstrom and then withstood a furious third-period comeback attempt by the Capitals, who found their legs and their attitude.

Opponent: Dallas StarsSite: Reunion Arena, DallasTime: 8: 30TV/Radio: HTS tape delay, midnight/WWLG (1360 AM), WASA (1330 AM), WTEM (570 AM)Outlook: The Capitals, after a disastrous performance in their season-opening loss to Chicago, are looking to get back to their punishing defensive style of play tonight. Dallas beat defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado on Saturday, 4-1. C Joe Juneau (sinus infection) has not practiced the past two days, but did make the trip. He is questionable for tonight.

Site: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.Time: 7: 30TV/Radio: HTS/WTEM (570 AM)Outlook: The Capitals (10-9-1) will try to turn the page on New Jersey tonight. The Caps have a 10-game (0-9-1) nonwinning run against the Devils, including a 3-2 overtime loss at the Meadowlands on their last visit. Washington is 3-0-1 in its last four games and will have D Sergei Gonchar (hyperextended elbow) and D Brendan Witt (flu) back in the lineup. However, they will be without leading scorer Joe Juneau (hamstring)

Site: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.Time: 7: 30TV/Radio: HTS/WTEM (570 AM)Outlook: The Capitals (10-9-1) will try to turn the page on New Jersey tonight. The Caps have a 10-game (0-9-1) nonwinning run against the Devils, including a 3-2 overtime loss at the Meadowlands on their last visit. Washington is 3-0-1 in its last four games and will have D Sergei Gonchar (hyperextended elbow) and D Brendan Witt (flu) back in the lineup. However, they will be without leading scorer Joe Juneau (hamstring)

Rick Tabaracci had a rag and was shining his new helmet, the one he'll get to wear tonight when he starts in goal for the Washington Capitals."I've waited so long," said Tabaracci, who is getting his first start of the season. "Training camp, the lockout, then I came so close to playing in Quebec and broke my finger. But now everything is good. My finger is healed. The last couple of days I've been able to handle the stick and make the rebounds."Capitals coach Jim Schoenfeld gave his standard response when asked why he has decided to start Tabaracci tonight over Olie Kolzig, who has played well in each game so far this season despite the team's 1-3-1 record.

BETHESDA -- Washington Capitals center Joe Juneau has a new four-year, $8.2 million contract, but yesterday when he appeared at the news conference to announce it, he was sockless and in a suit and tie borrowed from teammate Pat Peake.Only his shoes were his own.Juneau may be a star in the NHL, but when he's home in Pont Rouge, Quebec, he is a casual, ordinary man who loves the outdoors and likes to spend his time in the woods with his father and brother.So when the call came telling him that he had a new contract with the Capitals and that he had to pack and fly to Washington immediately to sign it and appear at a news conference, Juneau didn't even have a dress shirt handy.

LANDOVER -- The Washington Capitals were on their way to a 7-2 victory over the Penguins last night that would clinch their sixth-place finish in the Eastern Conference, when Peter Bondra looked up to see his NHL goal-scoring lead threatened.But it wasn't threatened long.With the Capitals leading 4-2 in the third period, and Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr having scored the two to get Pittsburgh back in the game and force a goal-scoring tie with Bondra at 32 apiece, Bondra went to work.He scored short-handed -- for an NHL-leading sixth time -- to retake the lead and give the Caps a 4-2 advantage.

LANDOVER -- A play that didn't appear to have any chance of success proved the difference last night as the Washington Capitals beat the New York Rangers, 3-2, at USAir Arena.The Rangers were pressing, defensemen included, when Todd Krygier sneaked away up the middle of the ice as Joe Juneau was gaining control and flipping the puck ahead to him.Krygier beat Rangers goalie Glenn Healy to the glove side with 58 seconds remaining with a shot that was nowhere near as tough as the ones Healy had been stopping all evening.

Opponent: New York RangersWhere: Madison Square Garden, New YorkTime: 7: 30TV/radio: HTS/WTEM (570 AM), WWLG (1360)Outlook: The Capitals (1-5) are looking to avoid their worst start since opening 1-6 in 1993-94. Washington has played better in losses to Buffalo and Pittsburgh, but has not put together a solid game. Peter Bondra, the man the Caps are depending on for consistent scoring, has three goals but has been shut out in four of the team's six games. C Joe Juneau (bruised nerve in leg)

LANDOVER - Sitting eighth in the NHL's tight Eastern Conference playoff race, the Washington Capitals responded with the biggest shutout performance in team history and left the 13,172 fans at USAir Arena dazzled and screaming.Goalie Jim Carey turned in his league-leading seventh shutout of the season, blanking Vancouver, the third-most potent offensive team in the league, 9-0.While Carey was making 21 saves, the Capitals offense was turning in its biggest offensive performance since Dec. 17, 1993, when it beat Ottawa, 11-2.

MONTREAL -- They often talk about ghosts at the Montreal Forum, but they usually are Canadien ghosts. Last night, as the Washington Capitals played their last game here, they found a few of their own, who must have been rattling around since the 1970s, when the Caps were an expansion team and losing regularly to Montreal.Last night, they lost again, 5-3, and leave the Forum for the last time with a 7-30-6 record in the storied old facility that is being replaced March 16."Maybe it's a good thing they're going to tear this old place down," said Caps goaltender Jim Carey, who saw four pucks get past him on Montreal's first five shots.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Longtime hockey observers say hockey isn't as it used to be, that the NHL has cleaned itself up. Fighting is a no-no and, most nights, a thing of the past.But last night at the Continental Airlines Arena, with 14,118 on hand to witness it, the Washington Capitals and the New Jersey Devils engaged in an old-fashioned hockey game.The Devils eventually won, 3-1, but not before most everyone on the ice was roughed, slashed, high sticked punched out or, in the case of Capital Dale Hunter, treated like a rag doll and slammed repeatedly to the ice by the Devils' Bill Guerin.