League ices Caps enforcer on eve of elimination game
Capitals forward Donald Brashear was suspended six games by the NHL on Monday for his actions before and during Game 6 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series against the New York Rangers on Sunday.
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Brashear will miss Game 7 on Tuesday night, the league announced, and the next five games he plays — whether those games happen in the playoffs, should the Caps advance, or next season.
According to Colin Campbell, NHL vice president of hockey operations, Brashear was suspended five games for a hit on Blair Betts, which left the Rangers forward with a concussion and fractured orbital bone, and one more game for pregame contact with New York forward Colton Orr.
“Brashear delivered a shoulder hit to an unsuspecting player,” Campbell said. “It is also my opinion that the hit was delivered late and targeted the head of his opponent, causing significant injury.”
Brashear, 37, has averaged just 3 minutes, 25 seconds of ice time per game in the series. But he is a physical presence playing left wing on the fourth line. Betts, meanwhile, is a fourth-line center, but leads the NHL’s best penalty-kill unit.
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau declined to say who would take Brashear’s place in the lineup. But his suspension could mean the return of captain Chris Clark, who missed the final 33 games of the regular season with a torn tendon sheath in his right wrist. Clark has yet to play in the postseason.
“Bruce just told me ‘Be ready,’” said Clark, who played just 18 games during the 2007-08 season because of a groin injury.
Brashear’s suspension is the latest twist during this wild series. New York head coach John Tortorella was suspended for Game 6 — a 5-3 Caps’ victory — after throwing a water bottle into the stands at Verizon Center during Game 5 last Friday. The Rangers later sent a letter to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman — and to the media before Sunday’s game — complaining about the lack of adequate security behind their bench at Verizon Center. The league declined to punish the Caps, but security changes will be made for Game 7. New York is also claiming that Caps defenseman Shaone Morrisonn bit forward Brandon Dubinsky during a scrum in the second period of Game 6. Visual evidence was lacking, however, so no punishment is expected for that incident.
Washington itself made headlines early in the series, changing goalies after an ugly Game 1 performance by veteran goalie Jose Theodore. Yet rookie Simeon Varlamov — who turned 21 on Monday — has been the equal of New York star goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Varlamov has two shutouts in the series and has allowed just six goals in the five games he has started.
But none of that matters now. For the second year in a row the Caps will play a first-round Game 7 at home. Last year, they turned the tide on the Philadelphia Flyers after trailing 3-1 in that series, but suffered a shocking overtime loss in the finale.
“We need to play with emotion, but not emotionally,” said Caps defenseman Brian Pothier, who last played in a Game 7 in 2004 with the Ottawa Senators against their biggest rival, the Toronto Maple Leafs. “We need to have that desperation, that urgency, and understand what’s on the line. But not have it take us over where we’re gripping sticks and overanalyzing, overthinking.”
