Since we last had a weird article written about us when facing the Washington Capitals…
IN: Troy Brouwer, Tomas Vokoun, Joel Ward, Roman Hamrlik, Jeff Halpern, coach Dale Hunter
OUT: Semyon Varlamov, Jason Arnott, Matt Bradley, Boyd Gordon, Eric Fehr; coach Bruce Boudreau
INJURED: Leading scorer Nicklas Backstrom was taken out by Rene Bourque’s elbow to his head (screw you Bourque!); Mike Green was also sent back home with a groin injury.
Capitals Lineup:
Ovechkin-Laich-Brouwer
Semin-Johansson-Knuble
Chimera-Halpern-Ward
Hendricks-Perreault-Beagle
Carlson-Alzner
Wideman-Hamrlik
Erskine-Orlov
In Net: Vokoun
Kings Lineup: M. Richards is back at center.
Brown-Kopitar-Williams
Penner-Richards-Stoll
Richardson-Loktionov-Lewis
Clifford-Fraser-Hunter
Scuderi-Doughty
Mitchell-Martinez
Johnson-Greene
Bernier
Game outlook: I dunno why I get an “Oh, WHAT?!” vibe off the decision to play Jonathan Bernier, from the Washington reporters at least. Guess what? He beat you last time, and only gave up one goal in the process. There was all sorts of handwringing afterwards, but LA beat you fair and square.
The Caps are a good team, but there’s no reason to act like it’s inconceivable to play him or something. Hmmph.
Please do this for JB, boys.