Eastern Conference semifinals
No. 7 Capitals vs. No. 1 New York Rangers
Game 4
When: Saturday, May 5
Where: Verizon Center
Time: 12:30 p.m.
TV: NBC
Radio: WFED-1500 AM
No lineup changes for the Capitals, according to coach Dale Hunter, when they face the New York Rangers this afternoon in Game 4 of an Eastern Conference semifinal series. Down 2-1 for the second round in a row, Washington needs a win or else will face elimination on the road at Madison Square Garden on Monday night.
Caps will stick with what worked relatively well in Game 3, that 2-1 triple overtime loss – other than flipping centers Brooks Laich and Nicklas Backstrom. Laich returns to the top line. Rookie goalie Braden Holtby makes his 11th career playoff start. New York is 9-0-1 in afternoon games this season. Is that any advantage at all? Probably not. Washington’s players seem comfortable with these game times, too.
“I guess we’ll find out, won’t we? But, no, the guys like the afternoon games. You get up, you don’t have much to think about,” forward Troy Brouwer said. “You just play some hockey. So we’re excited to play, like you say. With the two days off we had a good day off a couple days ago, a good practice yesterday and it’s nice to be able to get right back at it today.”
Forwards:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Johansson
Chimera-Laich-Semin
Hendricks-Beagle-Brouwer
Knuble-Aucoin-Ward
Defense pairings:
Alzner-Carlson
Hamrlik-Green
Schultz-Wideman
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