Editorial – Capital Investment
November 28th, 2009 | by Eric Meliton |It’s Saturday night and the Habs are hosting the Washington Capitals in a big Eastern Conference matchup in Montreal. The Habs are coming off a lack-lustre loss to the Penguins earlier this week in which scoring was a major issue. Scoring is not a concern for the high powered offense of the Capitals, and Alexander Ovechkin will be the main focus for the defensive scheme this evening.
On a positive note for the Habs, goaltender Carey Price is playing very well right now, but needs scoring to be successful. He has kept his team in many games and has even stolen a couple of wins by himself, but the team needs to score more goals to make some of his recent efforts worthwhile. With the potential return of defenseman Jaroslav Spacek, the Habs will need all of the help they can get to corral the Capitals.
Expected to make the start for the Capitals is Semyon Varlamov, who has been hot in the last few weeks. In his last three starts, Varlamov is 1-0-2, with a 1.61 GAA, .950 save percentage, including one shutout. Generally, the Caps have relied on outscoring opponents instead of receiving solid goaltending and defense. If Varlamov continues on this hot pace, he will not only be named the full-time starting netminder in Washington, taking over for former Habs goaltender Jose Theodore.
X-factors for tonight’s game are Ovechkin and Varlamov for the Capitals. On the Habs side of things, Carey Price needs to put up a strong game in Montreal, but will need scoring support from the likes of Tomas Plekanec (team leader with 24 points) and Mike Cammalleri (team leader with 12 goals). This will be a tough test for tonight’s game and with the Habs decimated by injuries thus far, they will need a unified team effort to limit the offensive chances generated by the Caps tonight.
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Tags: Alexander Ovechkin, Carey Price, Jaroslav Spacek, Jose Theodore, Mike Cammalleri, Semyon Varlamov, Tomas Plekanec
