Boston is a far superior team to CBJ and currently the hottest team in the NHL. Do you want your back-up or starter against them?
- Rinosaur

I'd rather give ourselves the very best chance to beat CBJ since that's a 4 point swing in the standing, 8 point swing if you're looking at it as the total home and home series. And if the Bs are so hot right now, we have a smaller chance of beating them anyways, so lets stack the odds in favor of the easier two points on the back to back.

Boston is a far superior team to CBJ and currently the hottest team in the NHL. Do you want your back-up or starter against them?
- Rinosaur

Boston also has VERY little direct impact on where we finish in the standings... Blue Jackets do.

So, I want my starter against Columbus, not that I specifically want the backup against Boston.

As a person who used to firmly believe that the PP didn't need Hornqvist, the numbers with him on vs him off are stark, and I also think having two guys on the blue line on the PP neuters a lot of the fire power and push everything to the perimeter (which we all know is bad). I think this would be a coward's move that's only purpose is to appease the "We give up too many breaks on the PP" crowd.
- Victoro311

I'm more thinking about how the Caps run their PP. I think a lot of mobility up top will draw attention away from Phil and Geno so they are more wide open for their shot.

Boston also has VERY little direct impact on where we finish in the standings... Blue Jackets do.

So, I want my starter against Columbus, not that I specifically want the backup against Boston.
- Guile

Ok, this is a fair argument. I can get behind that.

Boston is a far superior team to CBJ and currently the hottest team in the NHL. Do you want your back-up or starter against them?
- Rinosaur

I want my starter to play against my divisional opponent, who is 4 points behind, to give me the best chance to win this game as it is significantly more important than the Boston game.

I understand the concept that Boston is the way better team, but getting the better chance to win against Columbus with your starter, then hoping DeSmith can steal one against Boston, every coach would do that. It has been statistically proven that you start your starter the first game, then the backup the 2nd as it gives you the most wins/points in the long run.