Stanley Cup Playoffs first round: Game #7
Series: Capitals 3, Montreal Canadiens 3
Where: Verizon Center
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
TV: Comcast SportsNet / Radio: 106.7 FM
This is it. In about 12 hours the Caps might be celebrating a Game 7 win over the Montreal Canadiens. They can then take a breath for a day — two at most — and then jump right into a second-round series against No. 7 seed Philadelphia. Or — they lose and begin a summer of questions and regrets and anguish and all the things that go with being a favorite and falling far, far short of expectations. That is the crushing pressure a player faces in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Each deals with it differently.
“You do want to channel those emotions,” said Caps center Brendan Morrison, who could be back in the lineup tonight as the third-line center. “You just can’t blow everything out the first 10 minutes, though. Then what do you have left?”
Morrison has played in four Game 7s during his career. Caps forward Mike Knuble has played in two Game 7s — the first against Montreal in 2004 and the second right here at Verizon Center in 2008. He helped the Flyers upend the Caps, 3-2, in overtime. Add in the three previous Game 7s that much of the current roster participated in during the 2008 and 2009 playoffs and you have a team as well equipped as any to deal with this win-or-go-home situation.
“Guys have experience with this. You can’t get all wrapped up in “Game 7″,” Knuble said. “Then you ignore the game. It becomes too much. Focus on what you’ve done right all season that’s been successful.”
Rookie goalie Semyon Varlamov was the first player off the ice at the morning skate today, which ended about an hour ago. It sure looks like he’ll be in goal if that pattern holds. Defenseman John Carlson said he would be paired with AHL Hershey callup Karl Alzner. The two played together at Hershey for much of this season. Alzner did say he hadn’t been told that for sure and that he could still play with Joe Corvo. But the chemistry would be there with Carlson, for sure. In a game of this magnitude that can only help. Alzner replaces Tom Poti, who suffered a right eye injury during Game 6 at Montreal. He is out at least 2-to-3 weeks.
Other scratches; Defensemen Tyler Sloan and John Erskine were passed over for Alzner. Quintin Laing and David Steckel lingered on the ice after the morning skate — the usual indication they are out. But Tomas Fleischmann and Scott Walker did not. One of those two has to sit. Morrison would not say for sure that he was in — only that the coaching staff told everyone to “be ready.”
