Caps (1-0-1, 2 points) vs. Lightning (1-1-0, 2 points)
What – Game #2
Where – Verizon Center
When – 7 p.m.
TV – CSN HD
Radio – WFED-1500 AM
No such thing as a statement game this early in the season. The Caps could beat Tampa Bay tonight 6-0 and it’s not going to erase what happened last spring during the Stanley Cup playoffs. What it would do is give them a 2-0 start overall and in the Southeast Division. That is a big deal.
Bruce Boudreau has plenty of options with a club this talented. Marcus Johansson is back in at center – though Boudreau wouldn’t say what line. Expect him to center Troy Brouwer and Alex Semin on that second line. Johansson was scratched completely on Saturday for the season opener against Carolina. That either pushes Mathieu Perreault out of the lineup – he was the second-line center on Saturday – or bumps someone off the fourth line. In that case you have to think it would be Jay Beagle – though that’s just a guess. Boudreau was non-committal on Perreault playing at all tonight. If he does, Jeff Halpern played a ton of right wing last season with the Canadiens. Perreault could center that line. He hasn’t played wing much at all in the NHL.
“Beagle can play center or right wing. Halpern can play center or right wing. We’ve also got – along with the [Brooks] Laich’s who can play anywhere, Perreault can play different positions. We’ve got a few options.”
Boudreau said he thought Perreault Saturday looked like a player who’d never participated in a season opener at the NHL level. A little nervous, to say the least. Boudreau also admitted those different “options” make his life a little harder. But there’s a comfort level that there will always be a combo that will click when things get difficult.
Tomas Vokoun gets his first crack in net after Michal Neuvirth was the surprise starter in goal on Saturday. Vokoun wasn’t all that happy with that development. But he might want to put together a good effort against the Lightning, a team he knows well from his years with the Florida Panthers. Next up is the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.
“I think we have to worry about ourselves more than worry about [the Lightning],” Vokoun said. “That really doesn’t change from team to team. But obviously for this team today there is something to prove – [Tampa Bay] won four straight in the playoffs. So I’m sure guys remember that and certainly coaches do. It’s somewhat of a statement game. But it’s the second game of the season and it really only means two points.”
As for communications issues that popped up occasionally between Vokoun and his defensemen during the preseason: “I hope they’re all speaking Czech tonight,” Boudreau cracked. But he refused to call it a statement game for his team or Vokoun himself. Too early for all that.
As for the penalty kill, which allowed two goals in four attempts on Saturday, that better not happen tonight. The Lightning have a dynamite power-play unit led by forward Steven Stamkos, who had 50 power-play goals in his first three seasons.
“The first goal is always to take Stamkos away,” Boudreau said. “But it’s such a tough job…[and] with that team it’s pick your poison. The best thing to do is not take penalties.”
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