Game #61
Caps (41-12-7, 89 points) at Ottawa Senators (34-22-4, 70 points)
Is a letdown in store as the Caps deal with the end of their team-record 14-game winning streak? Ottawa wouldn’t be a good place for one as the Senators are about the only team in the NHL as hot as Washington. They have won 12 of their last 13 overall and are on a six-game winning streak at Scotiabank Place. Ottawa enters the night in second place in the Northeast Division – tied in points with Buffalo but with two extra games played – and in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
Rookie goalie Semyon Varlamov will start in goal for the Caps, according to coach Bruce Boudreau. That will be the first start since Dec. 7 for last spring’s playoff star. Knee and groin injuries have robbed Varlamov of two months of NHL action. Not an easy place to jump back into things, but the Caps weanted to get a look at Varlamov before the Olympic break. Jose Theodore is the likely starter at St. Louis on Saturday night.
With defenseman Tom Poti missing the last 15 minutes of Wednesday’s loss at Montreal and John Erskine nursing an upper-body injury it’s a safe bet that Karl Alzner is on his way to Ottawa from AHL Hershey. Patriot-News Bears beat writer Tim Leone reports that Alzner and forward Chris Bourque were not at practice on Thursday morning. Hershey has also recalled two players from ECHL affiliate South Carolina. Just putting two and two together…
Alzner seems likely to play. Bourque may be around for insurance as the team heads to St. Louis. They are already playing with 13 forwards and left wing Jason Chimera is a game-time decision tonight with a groin injury. He did not play agasinst Montreal as Quintin Laing slid into the lineup and Matt Bradley moved up a line. No roster moves have been officially announced by the Caps yet so I have to speculate a bit. But I’d guess goalie Michal Neuvirth – who came out of the Montreal game with an undisclosed injury – would head back to Hershey, where he will play during the Olympic break. They’d still have to make one more, though, unless Bourque is literally up for insurance only and not added to the roster unless needed. It would be tough to get a player out to St. Louis on short notice, especially since the Bears are at Albany on Friday night.
