The Washington Capitals stormed back against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night after falling behind 3-0 early in the game. The Sharks controlled most of the game, and, even though the Caps fought back, San Jose inevitably won in a shootout.
Because of this, Barry Trotz has decided to move some players around.
Eric Fehr, who has been playing alongside Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom will be moved down to the third line reuniting with Jason Chimera and Joel Ward, while Troy Brouwer will be back on the first as he was most of last year.
The Chimera- Fehr-Ward line was one of the best and most consistent lines last season. Joel Ward scored a career high 24-goals.
Andre Burakovsky, who has been playing spectacular hockey so far with 4 points in three games, will look to center Marcus Johansson and Brooks Laich. Laich was centering Chimera and Ward, but that line was a combined minus-4 on Tuesday.
The fourth line will remain intact. We could see Chris Brown injected into the lineup tonight in place of Liam O'Brien.
Trotz said that he was upset with the amount of turnovers the Caps gave up. Defensively, the game wasn't much smoother for Orpik and Carlson.
During the third period of the Sharks game, Trotz split up the top D-pairing of John Carlson and Brooks Orpik, both were on the ice for all 5 Sharks goals. Orpik played with Mike Green, while Carlson saw time with Nate Schmidt. At practice on Wednesday, however, the D-pairings were back normal. Karl Alzner and Matt Niskanen have been the most reliable pairing of the group.
Trotz said on Wednesday, of the offense lines, that wanted to experiment in practice.
“Each line sort of forms their own identity within the team concept,… Trotz said “I’ve had lines in the past that were all about creating havoc and energy, and one was maybe a little more cerebral and one would take a lot of pride in the cycling game and one would take pride in more of a physical nature. I think all lines take on a little bit of an identity. They all try to form an identity and be a little bit different within the same concepts of what we do and in terms of our philosophy of how we play.… (washingtoncapitals.com)
Whether or not Trotz is being a little impatient in changing up the lines is debatable. Going into only their fourth game, the Caps still seem a little dysfunctional at times. The game against the Bruins still stands as the barometer in which all their games should be played, and perhaps they are just trying too hard to replicate that. Ovechkin has been great so far, leading the way with 4 goals (2 even-strength), and rookie Andre Burakovsky, who was playing great with Troy Brouwer, has been a great surprise.
Still, Trotz is a veteran coach, and if he thinks shuffling things up is the way to go to create some chemistry, then so be it. He's the one getting paid, isn't he?
The Devils are looking to go 4-0 to start the season for the first time since 1995-96. They are the oldest team in the league, and their experience is speaking volumes so far.
The Caps are looking for their second win of the year.
Braden Holtby will start tonight after letting 3 goals on 7 shots against the Sharks in a quick 9 minutes of playing time. He'll be angry and, hopefully, stingy this time.
Game starts at 7 here in DC.
More to come...
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