Game 1 Notes: Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins

 Here we go, Game 1 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Semifinals is upon us. As the Caps look to make the next step, if they do that they will have to go through the team that has stood in the way for many years. We will see over next week or two what the Caps are made of, it starts tonight. Here is what I think the lineup will look like for Game 1.

Forwards:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Williams
Chimera-Richards-Burakovsky
Winnik-Beagle-Wilson


Defense and Goalies:

Orpik-Carlson
Alzner-Niskanen
Schmidt-Orlov


Holtby
Grubauer


Other Notes:

*Brooks Orpik will be a game time decision tonight, as he hasn't played since Game 3 of the Flyers series. He has practiced this week, but he will need to be cleared by doctors to play. If he is not, then I would expect Taylor Chorney as he has more speed than Mike Weber.

*Karl Alzner missed the last couple of days of practice but it was just a maintenance days. Barry Trotz has already said that he is in tonight.

*Braden Holtby was great in round 1, and the Caps will need him to be great again. We will see if he can remain calm as I believe the Pens will be a tougher challenge than the Flyers.

*Marcus Johansson will be on the 2nd line most likely tonight, he has played well as he had a goal and 5 assists in the Flyers series. While Andre Burakovsky did not have a good series. We will see if the little shake up will get Burakovsky going.

*Caps have to have a good start tonight and pressure Pens goalie Matt Murphy. Murphy has a great opening series against the Rangers but is still young and unproven to this point. In my opinion the Caps have to get traffic in front so Murray can't see shots from the point.

*I would like to see Justin Williams have more of an impact when it comes to scoring in this series. I am sure he is a great influence on the bench and in the locker room but I would like to see him and Kuzy get going.

*Nate Schmidt and Dmitry Orlov need to be good if they do in fact play together on the third defense pairing tonight. If their is a spot in the lineup that the Pens will try to take advantage of, its them. Even though both guys have had solid seasons.

*Overall this will be a big game, even if it is Game 1. The Caps have to come out and make a statement that they are a different team. Even though the Caps took a 2-0 series lead in 2009, a 2-0 series lead this year in my opinion would be tougher to overcome. We will see what happens but this is going to be an epic series.


Gametime 8:00 p.m on NBCSN