Caps want to take advantage of wear and tear on Bruins

Alzner Shoots (Photo credit: clydeorama)

After reading this blog post and some of the other ones from the Capitals media, it kind of hit me that the Washington Capitals have done a lot of extra talking and at times some serious whining during this hard fought series.

Maybe it's a difference in the two teams and their leadership. Frankly, you haven't heard the Boston Bruins doing this much talking.

Obviously I follow the Boston Bruins and I haven't watched the Capitals enough this season to know if it's their modus operandi or not. Lastly, if the Capitals think they are going to run the Boston Bruins out of the building playing a physical game they are sorely mistaken.That plays right into the Boston Bruins Hands.

Katie Carrera, Capitals Insider --- “You can tell by the way they play and where they go on the ice and where they don’t go on the ice and if they’re rushing off or if they’re on the play. You can definitely tell,” Karl Alzner said. “You’ve just got to — it’s like we said at the beginning of the series — you plant the seed. If it’s mentally with hitting them or getting in their face, or if it’s dumping the puck in every single time, then they start to know — and that’s when you start to take advantage.”

While some injuries are readily apparent — Patrice Bergeron is dealing with an upper-body ailment that likely will prevent him from taking face-offs again in Game 7, Joe Corvo missed Game 6 after taking a puck off the leg — others are less visible. Alzner said the Capitals have discussed who they think is hurting and how to put extra pressure on the Bruins in this contest.

“There’s a couple guys I know — and we talked about it — that they’re cheating,” Alzner said. “You can see where they’re cheating, and we’re waiting to for an opportunity to take advantage of it, and you’ve got to wait for that chance. It’s not always there, but sometimes it is, and it’s a fatigue thing. Hopefully you take advantage of it the next game.”

Alzner tells Lucic to stop crying

The Washington Capitals might want to have Karl Alzner review a few of Lucic's fight video's because the last thing that Lucic is; is a whiner. I got a chuckle out of this as well. Alzner is probably lucky that he was rescued by the ref before Lucic got a hold of him. If Alzner is confused he can confer with Paul Gaustad of Buffalo.

"Well, there's a lot of [proof] on my side to show that I'm not a crybaby," Lucic said after the game. "That's a lot coming from a guy I think who's got two roughing penalties in three years, so there you go.

Asked whether he felt Alzner was the third man in, an offense that is punishable by a game misconduct, Lucic grinned and chose his words carefully before answering, "Yup." [WEEI.COM]

Related articles

• Milan Lucic and Karl Alzner don't seem to care for each other (prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com)
• Bruins' Lucic To Alzner: 'I'm Not A Crybaby' (boston.cbslocal.com)

Chimera spears the Little Ball of Hate in the groin

Ouch! This is the reason that Brad Marchand was laying on the ice last night. Looks like the refs missed one here, that one couldn’t have felt very good. As you can see by the photo, Washinton Capitals forward Jason Chimera speared Brad Marchand in the groin/cup region with his stick during last night's game between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals. That should have been a major penalty.

Of course no one is going to feel bad for the Little Ball of Hate Brad Marchand. I noticed that when the  Captials started to play physical  and rough against the Bruins, the Bruins kind of took the game over. Here is the link to the video in question [Click to view]

Joe McDonald, ESPN Boston --- One would have assumed the player waiting for Marchand was forward Jason Chimera. (In fact, we did in an earlier post.)

During a scrum in front of the Bruins’ net early in the third period, Chimera clearly struck Marchand in the groin area with his stick, sending Marchand to the ice in pain. He was attended to by team trainer Don DelNegro. Chimera was given a two-minute penalty for slashing.

But Marchand was approached by defenseman Karl Alzner, who caught Marchand with an elbow to the head during the game.

s/t Puck Daddy for the photo

Niklas Backstrom cross check on Peverley

The Washington Captials "could" be without one of their best players because of this unnecessary and dirty cross check by Niklas Backstrom on Boston Bruins forward Richard Peverley at the end of tonight's game. Backstrom received a match penalty at the end of the game tonight for this cross-check. It will be interesting to see what kind of supplemental discipline that Backstrom receives.  [Box Score]

Based on how erratic Brendan Shanahan has been in his ruling during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, I would be surprised if Backstrom receives any punishment, mainly because of his star status. I predict that if there is any punishment it will be the maximum 2,500 dollar fine.