against the Penguins, which means Jaroslav Halak (3-6, 3.08) could start Thursday night. Hes 6-6 with a 2.73 goals against and .897 save percentage against the Capitals.John Tavares has 12 goals and 12 assist

Faf du Plessis has admitted he would not be opposed to becoming South Africas permanent Test captain. Du Plessis is standing in for AB de Villiers, a long-time friend who is expected to return from an elbow injury for the Sri Lanka series in the home summer, and has racked up results that will make it difficult for his influence to be ignored.Under du Plessis, South Africa beat New Zealand in a Test series at home - their first since the disappointing summer of 2016-17 - and inflicted a first-ever 5-nil ODI series whitewash on Australia. They have also now won a third successive Test series in Australia, prompting calls for du Plessis to continue as captain.I would. Ive always said it. I love captaining. Its something I really enjoy doing, du Plessis said. Its important to make sure that with all the stuff we talk about our culture, as a captain you live that and lead from the front. I am enjoying it at the moment. However long it continues, I will always do it.Du Plessis has also received support from Ian Chappell. The captaincy has been terrific. South Africa would be well advised to keep Faf du Plessis on as captain because hes a guy that is buoyed by that responsibility, Chappell said.Since taking over, du Plessis has scored 217 runs at 43.40, only marginally more than his overall average of 41.28, but has looked a more confident batsmen. Du Plessis was dropped for the last Test of the 2015-16 summer against England after a run of poor form but returned in de Villiers place for the New Zealand series, and immediately showed the kind of determination and technique that he displayed in Australia four years ago. At the same time, Chappell also thinks du Plessis being retained in the role will free de Villiers up.Im not convinced AB de Villiers wants that responsibility I think he might be happy to see Faf keep the job. AB seems to put himself out in the field - mid-on, mid-off and those sort of positions - put him back in the slips because hes an unbelievable slip fielder. Not only do you retain a very good captain in Faf, you bring back a terrific batsman who doesnt have that responsibility on his shoulders and you get one of the best fielders in cricket in the slips. Win-win all round, he said.De Villiers does, in fact, have a strong desire to lead. He made public his disappointment when Hashim Amla was appointed ahead of him in 2014 and accepted the job temporarily when Amla stepped down in January this year. After two Tests as a stand-in captain, de Villiers was appointed full-time in February but has not had a chance to lead in a Test since then.He has given no indication of an intention to pass on the armband although he acknowledged du Plessis leadership skills during the first Test. Top captaincy by @faf1307, de Villiers tweeted. Once again, not much to say when a team performs like that! Pure class. #ProteaFire at its best!!! Enjoy the celebrations guys- Umlilooooooo.Although ruled out for the entire Australia tour, de Villiers told FIVE AA radio that he hoped to make himself available for the day-night Test in Adelaide. At the time, he was considering flying to Hobart to prepare during the second Test. De Villiers has not travelled to Australia and Russell Domingo, South Africas coach, confirmed he did not think de Villiers would play in the third Test. That will delay a decision South Africa will have to make about how to make room for de Villiers in their line-up. Cheap Tony Gwynn Jersey . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Cheap Randy Jones Jersey .ca! Kerry, Two nights after the Scott-Eriksson incident in Buffalo, the Bruins returned home to play San Jose. 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WASHINGTON -- The New York Islanders avoided a disastrous defeat Wednesday night and now have a chance to notch their first three-game winning streak of the season.The Islanders (8-10-4) squandered a 3-0 third-period lead before Anders Lee scored with 26.6 seconds left and Nikolay Kulemin added an empty netter three seconds later to give New York a 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.After beating the Penguins, who are second in the Metropolitan Division, the last-place Islanders travel to Washington Thursday for their first meeting of the season with the Capitals (13-6-2), who are tied for third.Wednesdays fantastic finish likely made it easier for the struggling Islanders to talk about the third-period collapse that preceded it.Weve faced enough adversity for a season, I think, Lee said. Weve been frustrated and its been a tough start. We dug ourselves a hole, but we dug ourselves out of one tonight.The Islanders have won two in a row for the first time since the fifth and sixth games of the season.I think the thing is, with us, weve just got to trust that when you stick with it, its just going to turn around, Cal Clutterbuck said of New York, which was 2-5-4 in November prior to Mondays win.Washington, the defending Presidents Trophy winner, has been scuffling a bit as well and is just 5-5 over their last 10 games.After finishing with the leagues fifth-best power play last season (21.9 percent success rate), the Capitals are currently ranked 19th, scoring just 15.6 percent of the time.Its ... a little bit of finish, a little bit of hunger, Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. Were entering as well as we have. We have the possession time. We need to get the back of the net. How do you get the back of the net? Weve got to hit the net (with our shots). Weve got to be hungry when there is a rebound.Their penalty-killing has suffered as well. Washington was second in the NHL last season, killing off 85.2 percent of penalties against them. This year, theyve fallen to 17th, stopping 82.dddddddddddd.6 percent.The Capitals have been called for 39 minors in the last eight games and Trotz said Monday hes issued warnings to repeat offenders.Theyre sort of warnings that if youre a penalty killer, you cant kill penalties from the box, Trotz told the Washington Post. Most of them are from not moving their feet. To me, (that means) youre getting on the wrong side of people, or youre instinctively grabbing versus moving your feet.So a lot of that can come out, and it will. Either they will change, or I will change it for them.Nicklas Backstrom leads the Capitals in assists (14) and points (20), while Alex Ovechkin has 12 goals and six assists.Versus the Islanders, Ovechkin has 32 goals and 15 assists in 42 games, while Backstrom has nine goals and 24 assists in 32 games.Braden Holtby is 11-1-3 in his career with a 2.13 goals against average and .930 save percentage against the Islanders.New Yorks Thomas Greiss started against the Penguins, which means Jaroslav Halak (3-6, 3.08) could start Thursday night. Hes 6-6 with a 2.73 goals against and .897 save percentage against the Capitals.John Tavares has 12 goals and 12 assist in 26 games versus Washington.Washington defenseman Matt Niskanen (lower body), who was injured in Saturdays loss to Toronto, practiced Wednesday. He has appeared in 185 consecutive games since joining the Capitals.Well see, he said regarding playing Thursday night. I felt good out there.Islanders defenseman Dennis Seidenberg (broken jaw), who missed the last seven games, is working out with the team but isnt expected to return until at least this weekend.Washington recalled 2014 first-round pick Jakub Vrana and Paul Carey from AHL Hershey and re-assigned rookie Zach Sanford to Hershey. Vrana could make his NHL debut Thursday night. ' ' '