STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS FIRST ROUND SERIES
Caps 1, Rangers 0
What – Game #2
Where – Verizon Center
When – 7:30 p.m.
TV – CSN HD
Radio – WFED-1500 AM
The Caps have a chance to take control of this best-of-seven series at home tonight and turn New York into a truly desperate team heading into Madison Square Garden for Game 3 on Sunday afternoon.
On the other hand, a loss tonight evens the series and gives the Rangers the momentum right back. Super pest Sean Avery returns to the lineup after being a healthy scratch in Game 1. He seems to have the lost trust of New York coach John Tortorella, but his team also needs the good version of Avery. Bruce Boudreau insisted his team wouldn’t be baited if Avery tried any shenanigans. Easier said than done sometimes, but they successfully avoided it during the 2009 playoff series between the two teams.
Caps will likely win if they again get production from Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin. They provided the two goals on Wednesday night. Ovechkin now has 41 points in 29 postseason games, including 21 goals.
Expect goalie Michal Neuvirth to get run early and often tonight. The Rangers have to generate more scoring chances and they could use some power plays, too. Both teams managed just two the other night. Washington defenseman Karl Alzner said yesterday that his team had to stand up for Neuvirth and do their best to keep the Rangers away from him. Again, easier said than done. We’ll see how he deals with that extra attention from New York’s big forwards. Neuvirth stopped 24 of 25 shots on Wednesday, but didn’t face a ton of quality chances. He did make some big saves when the Caps needed him, especially the first two minutes of overtime.
Lines are the same for Washington as Game 1: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble; Sturm-Arnott-Semin; Laich-Johansson-Chimera; Hendricks-Gordon-Bradley. D-pairings: Carlson-Alzner; Schultz-Hannan; Green-Erskine.
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