Washington Capitals

By Scott Lowe Tonight’s game marks the beginning of the Washington Capitals return to health. Or does it? It looks like Caps heart-and-soul grinder Matt Bradley will dress for the first time in a month tonight when the Caps close out the “first half” of their season with an important Southeast Division contest in Atlanta. Oft-nicked netminder Semyon Varlamov also will return to action after missing three games with lower-body ailments. While those two will get their feet wet with one appearance before the upcoming All-Star break, injured forward Alexander Semin and defenseman Tom Poti are hoping to be ready following the five-day respite. A week or two after that winger Eric...

By Scott Lowe The Washington Capitals, who had started showing signs of returning to the more consistent winning ways they enjoyed a season ago before stumbling a bit of late, are staring at a pair of road contests that they should win - and that they need to win if they are going to remain a serious contender for the top spot in the East. So, what does head coach Bruce Boudreau do? With rookie netminder Michael Neuvirth sidelined yet again by a lower body injury, Boudreau selects recent Hershey recall Braden Holtby to start tonight against the New York Islanders. Maybe this is a reward for Holtby being the good soldier and shuttling back and forth between D.C. and Pennsylvania without s...

By Scott Lowe Everyone wants to know who will start the season as the Washington Capitals' centers - at least on the second, third and fourth lines. The problem is that the guys fighting for those spots are all stepping up to the challenge. Usually in these situations coaches have their minds made up long before they tell the media and public what their plan is, and Bruce Boudreau rarely is forthcoming with his personnel decisions. This time, however, Boudreau may not be playing cat and mouse with us. Given a chance to play on the first line with Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble in place of banged-up Tomas Fleischmann Tuesday night in the Caps’ first preseason home game against Boston,...

By Scott Lowe It looks as though Bruce Boudreau may have learned a valuable lesson from last year’s disappointing playoff experience. During the Washington Capitals’ 2009-2010 run to the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy, Bourdreau rarely took his foot off the gas pedal. The team literally came to play every single night, using its free-wheeling offensive style to amass a club-record 14-game win streak and run away with the top seed in the Eastern Conference. There’s something to be said for a team that plays hard and entertains fans on a daily basis in this day and age of millionaire pro athletes who admit taking games off or not giving their all every time out. And, no ...