Tonight's lineup: Hurricanes at Caps
Signs point to Semyon Varlamov starting in net for the Capitals tonight against Carolina, in what will be his third consecutive start and fifth appearance this season.
As Coach Bruce Boudreau promised earlier this afternoon, defenseman Mike Green skated with the regulars during warm-ups and looks set to return to the lineup after missing the Caps' last two games with an undisclosed injury.
Tomas Fleischmann skated at left wing on the second line alongside Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble during line rushes and appears to be back after sitting as a healthy scratch on Friday at Tampa Bay.
Boudreau has apparently made a few changes tonight, at least to start, despite the 6-0 win Friday.
Alexander Semin is back on the top line with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin, and Ovechkin has moved back to left wing.
Center Marcus Johansson has moved down to the third line in between Jason Chimera and Eric Fehr.
Goaltender Cam Ward led the Hurricanes out onto the ice, and it appears the 26-year old will start between the pipes for Carolina.
Ward is 13-6-3 in 23 career games against the Caps, but he did take the loss in his only appearance against Washington so far this season, allowing two goals in a 3-0 Caps win in Raleigh on Oct. 27.
Boudreau praised Ward earlier Sunday afternoon.
"When he's on top of his game you better do something special to score, because I've seen where you can't score on him unless it goes in off of somebody's skate or something of that ilk," Boudreau said. "When he's on, I think he's as good as there is in the league."
Based on warmups, here's what the Caps' lineup should look like against Ward and the Hurricanes:
Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Semin
Fleischmann-Laich-Knuble
Chimera-Johansson-Fehr
Hendricks-Steckel-Bradley
Defense
Schultz-Green
Alzner-Carlson
Erskine-Poti
Goal
Varlamov
Neuvirth
Scratches: Boyd Gordon, D.J. King.
By
Greg Schimmel
| November 28, 2010; 4:37 PM ET
Categories:
Carolina Hurricanes
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So much for not staying with the same lineup after an outstanding game.
I would rather see D.J King skate on the 2nd line instead of Flash. We dont need anymore floaters.
Posted by: SA-Town | November 28, 2010 4:51 PM | Report abuse
well, so much the 21/19/8 experiment...at least for two periods anyways
Posted by: c_majors | November 28, 2010 4:53 PM | Report abuse
Not having Laich on the first line is a mistake. BB needs to go. lol!
Posted by: LloydChristmas | November 28, 2010 4:54 PM | Report abuse
agreed on Flash...he's been a total nonfactor the way he's played
Posted by: c_majors | November 28, 2010 4:58 PM | Report abuse
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