At 2 p.m. the Capitals head to Nassau Coliseum to break a seven way tie for second overall in the NHL. Both the Capitals and the New York Islanders have won their first two games of this fresh season. By the time you get out of work today, one of these teams will pass Ottawa (two wins, one overtime loss) for first overall, and the other will plunge to a respectable eighth.

Making things more interesting, the Capitals’ early climb to respectability rides on the shoulders of Tom Poti and Viktor Kozlov, who were both Islanders last year before signing free agent contracts with the Capitals this summer. Poti gives the team a veteran presence on the blueline that it has lacked since Brendan Witt demanded to be traded away. Keeping the symmetry, Witt joined the Islanders as a free agent in the summer of 2006 along with former Capital Chris Simon (currently suspended for slashing).

Both the Capitals and the Islanders have been predicted either to do well this season, or fail miserably. The Islanders lost several great players over the summer, but for now they appear to be doing fine with the guys they’ve got. The Capitals have added several terrific offensive weapons, but the team was terrible at both offense and defense last year. Nobody outside of Washington really bought the team’s “they can’t score on us while we’re scoring on them” explanation.

It will be exciting to watch one of these teams claim the league lead this afternoon. Of course, they won’t have very long to enjoy it. The Senators play the New Jersey Devils at 3 p.m., and should be back in first place by around 6.

Photograph of Milan Jurcina scoring a goal Saturday night by Eli Resnick.