Caps (0-0) vs. Thrashers (0-0)
What » Game #1
Where » Philips Arena
When » 7:30 p.m.
TV » CSN HD
Radio » WFED-1500 AM
Time to finally get the 2010-11 season started. It’s been a long wait for the Caps – 163 days to be exact as noted in our season preview – and the players are ready to put last season’s playoff meltdown against Montreal behind them.
We start off with a road game at Southeast Division rival Atlanta. The Thrashers fired John Anderson – who just happened to be one of Bruce Boudreau’s best friends – and have a new coach in Craig Ramsey and a new general manager in Rick Dudley. They added two players who won a Stanley Cup with Chicago last year – big 6-foot-4, 257-pound defenseman Dustin Byfuglien and forward Andrew Ladd. They’ve also moved Byfuglien, who scored 11 goals at forward for the Blackhawks in last year’s playoffs, back to his original position. Ladd is a nice boost at forward with a combined 32 goals the last two years. Forward Ben Eager also came over from Chicago.
There is some quality young talent in the organization. Evander Kane had 14 goals as a rookie. Defenseman Tobias Enstrom – good friend of Caps center and fellow Swede Nicklas Backstrom – is entering his fourth season. And defenseman Zach Bogosian was a monster at times as a 19-year-old second-year pro last season, but battled a wrist injury much of the season. First-round pick Alexander Burmistrov made the team out of training camp at just 18 years old.
Washington begins the season with three rookies in the opening night lineup – goalie Michal Neuvirth, center Marcus Johansson and defenseman John Carlson. Only Johansson, though, has yet to play an NHL game. Carlson and Neuvirth are about as tested an any “rookie” can hope entering their first full NHL season.
From Atlanta, the Post’s Katie Carrera says the Caps scratches will be Boyd Gordon, D.J. King and Tyler Sloan. Boudreau also confirmed that Carlson will play with veteran defenseman Tom Poti and not Karl Alzner. He had said earlier in the week this was a distinct possibility. Alzner and John Erskine are the third pairing.
This is the third time in four years that Washington opens its season in Atlanta. The Caps won 3-1 in 2007 and were blasted 7-4 to begin the 2008-09 season. Jose Theodore, making his Caps debut, lasted just 30 minutes before getting pulled from that one. The Thrashers are starting 23-year-old Ondrej Pavelec, who has a 1-7 record against Washington in eight starts and a 4.10 goals-against average in nine appearances overall. He’s also good for a .876 save percentage. You might remember him from such games as “Jeff Schultz scores from the other side of the rink” – one of three goals allowed in less than 90 seconds last Oct. 22 – and, of course, “Caps score eight times, embarrass two different Thrashers goalies” last Jan. 9. So, um….good luck?
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