Capitals Prepare For 1st Preseason Game Tonight

 

It’s a prelude to the beginning of the real thing. Tonight the Washington Capitals play their first pre-season game in a match-up in Buffalo against the Sabres. And while this may not be “must see TV” seeing that it isn’t even on, tonight is an important first test for young players like Joe Finley, (who will actually play tonight as a forward) 2008 first round draft pick Anton Gustafsson, and highly touted defenseman John Carlson who will all see there first official action in a Washington Capitals uniform tonight. Below are the twenty players who will be making the trip up to Buffalo:

 

FORWARDS

21-Laich, 19-Backstrom, 22-Knuble

33-Giroux, 9-Morrison, 17-Clark

56-Bourque, 83-Beagle, 63-A. Gordon

59-Finley, 94-Gustafsson, 90-Pinizzotto

 

DEFENSE

89-Sloan, 2-Pothier

27-Alzner, 74-Carlson

55-Schultz, 62-Collins

 

GOALTENDERS

40-Varlamov

31-Bacashihua

 

The key here as Boudreau told Vogal today, is that the coaching staff wants to see how the veterans mix with the regulars and how well the prospects and rookies understand the system.

 

That last part, the “understanding” phrase of the game should be far easier here than on many other teams as Boudreau somehow installed a system that was both disciplined and wide-open in Hershey before moving on and taking his style of play to the brighter stage of Washington. It’s just one of the many reasons why we see Mike Green’s game fully developed today. Bruce saw Mike’s full potential as a coach Hershey, and after finally following Green to Washington, coach Boudreau turned the break light off his game. Thus, the speedy defenseman was allowed the opportunity to show off his full arsenal on the offensive rush, just as long as he skates hard back when transitioning to defense. Check and check. With new assistant coach Bob Woods jumping to the Capitals after serving as head coach for the Hershey Bears last year when they won the Calder Cup, the transition for prospects from Hershey to Washington should be even smoother, although we’d be underrating the significant difference between AHL and NHL games if we said that the transition now was easy. Having some familiarity does help though, just look at the Washington Redskins who don’t have it. 

 

On Wednesday I was able to visit Kettler Ice Plex and witness the final game of the Duchesne Cup, given to the team that wins the series of intra-squad games between Monday and Wednesday.

 

And at the end of the day, I should use a line that cliché, but more importantly, it was not surprising to see that a team lead by future first liners Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Knuble and fielding such strong prospects as Karl Alzner, John Carlson and Oskar Osala (who I like a lot, more on him later) take home the cup.

 

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