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GDT: Round 2, Game 5 Canes @ Caps 5/15, 7:00

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
The Canes can close it out and head to their 3rd ECF of the Brind’Amour era.

Chatfield didn’t practice yesterday but RBA said after practice that he’s playing tonight. No changes up front, don’t mess with what’s working.

On the other hand, the Caps made wholesale changes yesterday. Eller is out, McMichael is at center between Leonard and Mangiapane. Beauvilier gets a shot with Strome and Ovi while PLD centers Protas and Wilson, who finished the last game on Strome’s line.

TNT for TV, Mike and Tripp on The Fan. The Rialto is also streaming it.
 
Alright chat, lock in! Type 1 if you believe! Anyone typing any other number is banned. (channeling my inner CaseOh)

Also, I might make the trip to The Rialto for a period or two of the action. Depending on how things are going in the household.
 
NoMich said:
Alright chat, lock in! Type 1 if you believe! Anyone typing any other number is banned. (channeling my inner CaseOh)

Also, I might make the trip to The Rialto for a period or two of the action. Depending on how things are going in the household.
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One of my neighbors went over to the last road game showing at the Rialto and said it was a blast.
 
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OK, so Washington's re-worked lines look like this:

Ovechkin/Strome/Beauvillier
Protas/PLD/Wilson
Leonard/McMichael/Mangiapane
Duhaime/Dowd/Raddysh

So, that 4th line is basically what they put together for Game 3 in Raleigh and they kinda/sorta played Carolina's 4th line to a draw until Brindy shifted Blake down. Then they got caved. The 1st line is basically what they used while Protas was out including Game 1 of this series, so nothing new there. Beauvillier takes some of the puck carrying load of of Strome and lets him hunt shots a bit. So far as I can tell, the re-worked PLD line is new or at least they haven't really used it much lately. It's the third line that draws the eye. McMichael may take draws, but hasn't really played center all season and moving him to wing was one of the changes from last season that really shored up their group up front. He's pretty one dimensional as a center and has never been good defensively up the middle. He'll probably draw the Staal line tonight, as I don't see Carbery wasting a top six matchup on Staal at home the way he did in Games 1 and 2. Leonard looks the part, but has yet to give them any real offensive pop, while I'm not sure they've really figured out what to do with Mangiapane yet. He produced next to nothing in the regular season (14 goals, 28 points) and even less in the playoffs. I assume they'll want PLD to get away from Aho, who has really gotten under his skin this series, but Aho's line is so good defensively that I'm not sure they want Strome's line paired up with them either. I dunno. We'll see how the matchups work out, but I'm not sure they've really unlocked anything here.

Either way, Carolina's got the ability to shift on the fly and Brindy's got all sorts of options because he's cultivated them all season long by mixing and matching. At this stage, I'm not sure he can make a line change that he hasn't made before without completely blowing up his center group.
 
jeffbear said:
One of my neighbors went over to the last road game showing at the Rialto and said it was a blast.
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Ooh. I wonder if it will fill up fast. There's a lot of seats there, but there's even more Caniacs around. Doors open at 6:30, I think.
 
bagopux said:
The Rialto marquee says something like “Neighborhood: 5 pts; Ovi: 1 pt”
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Hayes Permar has really done a great job with the Rialto - and it is steeped with a hometown Raleigh vibe.

It's within easy walking distance from our house, but don't know if we'll go to this one. Go Canes!
 
On a personal note, I would really love to not have a game on Saturday. My oldest is getting married next Sunday and we have a whole host of errands to deal with on Saturday…not the least of which is picking up the wedding and rehearsal dinner dresses from the seamstress. Between the errands and getting the house ready for our youngest and her fiancée to arrive on Wednesday, I need a break. But if game 1 of a series against the Panthers is next Wednesday/Thursday, I’m gonna need a couple of tickets… ;)
 
BTW, I was thinking that there was very little chance that Carolina would win tonight before Carbery went all fruit ninja on his lines and acted like it was no big deal. Now, I'm not so sure of Washington's belief in what they've been saying this whole series. Desperation sometimes works for you, but as often as not it doesn't. We'll see, but I'm with Andy. I've got other stuff to do on Saturday
 
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