Tonight's lineup: Penguins at Caps
This is a potential statement game for Washington, arguably more so than for Pittsburgh, and everyone involved is aware of it. Neither team needs any extra energy or motivation to play well tonight so this one ought to be fun.
"I don't think the [Winter Classic] nine days away really, quite frankly, has anything to do with it," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's just playing these guys is a tremendous challenge and let's see where we're at. It's been a rough month of December; let's see if these last two games -- or actually the last five games that we've played -- are a barometer that we're getting back to where we were in November or if we need more work."
Based on warmup, here's what the lineup should look like:
Forwards
Laich-Backstrom-Knuble
Ovechkin-Perreault-Fehr
Chimera-Johansson-Semin
Beagle-Steckel-A.Gordon
Defense
Hannan-Green
Alzner-Carlson
Erskine-Poti
Goal
Neuvirth
Varlamov
Scratches: Matt Hendricks (sick) and Matt Bradley (broken finger).
By
Katie Carrera
| December 23, 2010; 6:41 PM ET
Categories:
Lineups, Pittsburgh Penguins
Save & Share:
Previous: If Caps-Pens history is any indication, get ready for fireworks
Next: Open thread: Capitals vs. Penguins
Interesting lines. I wonder if the Laich/Backstrom/Knuble line will be used against Crosby's line. That would be a pretty solid defensive line and has size too.
I'm curious to see how MP plays with Ovie. That is interesting too.
Posted by: sgm3 | December 23, 2010 6:52 PM | Report abuse











We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.
User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.