The Caps return home for their 3rd game in 4 day to take on their rival Philadelphia. The Caps have won 3 in a row and with a win and some help today could be tied for the lead in the Metro Division after the Rangers, Islanders, and Pens lost in regulation yesterday. The Caps have been quietly climbing the standings since December and look to finish the last 29 games on a positive note. With the game being at 3 p.m there is no morning skate. I will be at the game today so I will try to post the lineup before puck drop.
Other Notes:
*Braden Holtby will be back in net today after having Friday night off. Holtby has been on a roll lately and looks to carry the Caps down the home stretch of the regular season.
*Mike Green was out on Friday after having a knee to knee incident in Ottawa on Thursday. Barry Trotz expects Green to be back today but we will see after warmup again if he is ready to go. Might have just needed a couple days of rest.
*Evgeny Kuznetsov has played very well the last few games and is looking more and more comfortable with his roll on the hockey team. If he continues to skate and play with confidence I think he will become the player we thought he would be when he was lighting up people in the World Juniors.
*As for today's game one key will be defending the Flyers top forwards Claude Giroux and Jakub Vorecek. Those two are dangerous when they are on the ice and on the powerplay as well. However, the Caps will have success if they can shutdown those two.
*Another key is to allow Braden Holtby to see the puck, Wayne Simmonds is a very good power forward who can get to the net. Have to have a eye on him and box him out.
*Jason Chimera has been chomping at the bit to play higher in the lineup, Barry Trotz gave him a chance against Anaheim and Chimmer played very well. We will have to see if Chimera is on the line with Brouwer and Kuznetsov again today or if Andre Burakovsky returns to the lineup after a one day send down to Hershey to make room for Philip Grubauer.
*Overall today is a very winnable for the Caps, hopefully they have a little more gas in the tank after a very busy week of games. However, the Flyers are not hard to get up for as these two team always play good games against one another. Should be a great day of hockey in D.C.
*One last thing the Hershey Bears got a big overtime win at home against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last night (See Highlights in previous post). The Bear trailed 3-1 but rallied to win in OT thanks to Mike Moore's goal. They also got goals from Stan Galiev, Kris Newbury, and Chris Conner. The Bears are now on a roll and leading the baby Pens by 5 points for first in the East Division. The Bears host Lehigh Valley today at 5 p.m.
Gametime 3 p.m on CSN and NHL Network
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