So does Caps coach Bruce Boudreau switch things up again when his team travels to Montreal for Game 6 on Monday night? He’s made some good decisions during this series — switching in rookie goalie Semyon Varlamov for veteran Jose Theodore and sticking Boyd Gordon back at fourth-line center for Dave Steckel. Defenseman Tyler Sloan moved into the lineup, but only after Shaone Morrisonn was hurt.
Forward Scott Walker might be a good fit. The veteran did score an overtime game-winner in Game 7 of last year’s second-round playoff series between Carolina and Boston. That would create a domino effect among the third and fourth lines, though. Does winger Tomas Fleischmann take a seat after a rough series? Will Steckel — practically frothing at the mouth to get back onto the ice — get another chance in this series or is the Canadiens’ overall team speed just a bad fit for him. Boudreau has options, for sure. Walker stood up for some of his teammates, who could find themselves out of the lineup if he’s in it on Monday night.
“I mean [the Canadiens] skate. I watch the games. I watch them closely,” Walker said. “They skate. They play hard. But are we playing hard? Yeah. Can we play harder? We could play harder in certain situations. But we were up 3-1, now it’s 3-2. You can’t read too much into all the stuff that goes on – if they change guys or if we change guys. Those aren’t always necessarily because guys are playing bad. It could be just situational wise or strategy wise or guys getting injured or tired or tons of different things.”
