3/6 Caps @ Bruins

cshea

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Nov 15, 2006
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The deadline has come and gone. Time for the stretch run into the playoffs, let's start it off with a win. Here's what we've got:

Lucic - Krejci - Iginla
Marchand - Bergeron - Smith
Kelly - Soderberg - Eriksson
Paille - Campbell - Thornton
Caron

Chara - Hamilton
Meszaros - Boychuk
Krug - Miller
Bartkowski, McQuaid, Potter

Rask
Johnson

Looks like a damn good team to me, one that can beat anyone in this league. Let's go B's.
 

cshea

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Loui is back today, apparently his issue was a heel infection. Meszaros is here, but Chiarelli wasn't sure if he'd play tonight. Julien's choice.
 

ForceAtHome

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Caps will be without Brooks Laich (inj), John Erskine (inj), and Dmitry Orlov (susp) tonight. Halak will suit up for the Caps for the first time tonight, but supposedly Holtby will get the start. Cam Schilling, who has 1 game of NHL experience from last year, will join the ranks of 19-year-old Connor Carrick and Jack Hillen, who is playing just his 4th game of the season.
 
Alzner - Carlson
Hillen - Green
Schilling - Carrick
 
Hotlby
Halak
 
The offensive pairings are tougher to predict. The forwards will feature three guys who didn't play just a few days ago against Boston with Dustin Penner, Ryan Stoa, and Chris Brown added to the mix. My best guess would be something along the lines of:
 
Johansson - Backstrom - Ovechkin
Penner - Brown - Brouwer
Chimera - Fehr - Ward
Stoa - Beagle - Wilson
 
Johansson could easily shift down to 2LW or 2C, with Penner or Chimera sliding to 1LW. They could start Brown at 4C, shift Beagle up to 3C, and then have Johansson/Fehr at 2C. Tons of permutations that are plausible. We'll see later, I guess.
 

Dollar

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May 5, 2006
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It really shouldn't be a tough decision between watching on my TV in HD on the Capitals feed, or watching on a tiny, shitty NESN feed online, but man... the Capitals color commentator remains the absolute worst in all of sports.
 

cshea

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TheShynessClinic said:
What happened? Not watching the game right now.
Boychuk got hit awkwardly into the corner and went straight down the tunnel. He was hunched over, so seems like an upper body injury. 
 
Edit: And he's back 
 

Dropkick Izzy

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Boychuk got his upper body rubbed against the end boards. Wasn't particularly hard hit, but he went down the tunnel after.

Edit: what he said.
 

LogansDad

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Carl Soderberg is some kind of wizard or something.
 
Only got to see the third, but Dougie once again looked like the best defensman on the ice to me, and Bergeron continues to be a dominant force. 
 
I get to go to my first live B's game in Phoenix in two weeks and couldn't possibly be more excited to watch these guys play in person.
 

Red Right Ankle

Formerly the Story of Your Red Right Ankle
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Jul 2, 2006
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Doug looked great but Boychuk taking possession of the puck, seeing Stoa(?) coming for the hit and lowering his shoulder, knocking Stoa on his ass then skating off with the puck like it ain't no thang was the moment of the night. A man among boys out there.
 

McDrew

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Apr 11, 2006
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The way the team performed last night only reinforces the fact that Chia did the right thing at the deadline.  All 4 of the Bruins' lines have real chemistry together.  The first line is #1/#2/#3 on the team in points, the second line is #4/#5/#6.  The Third line has started clicking now that Eriksson and Soderberg are getting regular minutes with each other, and the 4th line has not sucked recently. 
Admittedly, all games will not go as well as this one did, but the Bruins got a solid 60 minutes from all 19 people that touched the ice. 
 

Jed Zeppelin

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Aug 23, 2008
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Locking Soderberg into the center position has been such a big move as it seems to be maximizing everybody's talent. Love the chemistry with Loui, who is going to salvage his unlucky season down the stretch and through the playoffs. I like Kelly for what he is, but I've never wanted him centering a line with talented wingers. And while a pure scoring winger would take that line to the next level offensively, they've got a good balance right now that's allowing them to play 15-16 hard-nosed but skilled and productive minutes. This is a championship-level third line as long as they continue to play like this.
 
I still can't get over what a bargain it is that they have Soderberg at this price through next season, although I guess I can't feel too bad for him since he made $1 million to play 8 games last season.