-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Usually there is a Winter Classic GDT every year, didn't see one this year. Game Preview: BLACKHAWKS (25-10-2) at CAPITALS (18-11-7) TV: NBC, CBC, TVA Sports WASHINGTON -- Barry Trotz has enough trust in Brooks Orpik that the coach will let the veteran defenseman decide if he plays Thursday for the Washington Capitals against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Bridgestone 2015 NHL Winter Classic at Nationals Park. Orpik left the game Monday with a knee injury and did not skate during the Capitals' official practice Wednesday at the home of the Washington Nationals. "Brooks is taking warm-ups and he will tell me if he's playing," Trotz said Wednesday. "But he is feeling much better and we will not put him at risk. "Structurally there is nothing wrong. Brooks is enough of a pro to know, 'Can I help the team? Will I hurt team?' I think he knows that if he's not there (able to play) and he'll hurt us, he'll let us know. He'll say to me, 'Hey, I've got to bypass this one.'" Nate Schmidt would likely slide into Orpik's place next to John Carlson. Schmidt has no goals and three points in 32 games this season. He does have the second-best Corsi-for percentage among Capitals defensemen (53.3 percent) and has played mostly with Mike Green. Schmidt and Carlson have been paired for less than 30 minutes at even strength, but the Capitals did control more than 61 percent of the shot attempts (Corsi) in that time. Orpik was, along with Matt Niskanen, one of two significant offseason additions for the Capitals on the blue line. Orpik is not a strong possession player, but the Capitals, like the Pittsburgh Penguins before them, value his leadership skills, toughness and work on the penalty kill. "He's really helped our young defensemen," Trotz said. "John Carlson has become a better player from playing with Brooks Orpik. Karl Alzner has become a better defenseman from watching Brooks Orpik. Matt Niskanen has helped him too, and Mike Green. It really filters down through our whole organization. Those were two really important signings for us." BLACKHAWKS Brandon Saad - Jonathan Toews - Marian Hossa Kris Versteeg - Brad Richards - Patrick Kane Patrick Sharp - Andrew Shaw - Bryan Bickell Daniel Carcillo - Marcus Kruger - Ben Smith Duncan Keith - Brent Seabrook Johnny Oduya - Niklas Hjalmarsson David Rundblad - Michal Rozsival Corey Crawford Antti Raanta Scratched: Joakim Nordstrom, Tim Erixon Injured: Trevor van Riemsdyk (left patella fracture) CAPITALS Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Jay Beagle Marcus Johansson - Andre Burakovsky - Troy Brouwer Brooks Laich - Eric Fehr - Joel Ward Jason Chimera - Michael Latta - Tom Wilson Karl Alzner - Matt Niskanen Nate Schmidt - John Carlson Jack Hillen - Mike Green Braden Holtby Justin Peters Scratched: Evgeny Kuznetsov Injured: Brooks Orpik (knee), Dmitry Orlov (wrist), John Erskine (upper body), Aaron Volpatti (neck) Status report: Blackhawks: Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said Rozsival is ready to return to the lineup. He has not played since Dec. 23 because of a lower-body injury. Rundblad and Erixon, former teammates in Sweden reunited after a recent trade, have been competing for the sixth spot in the lineup. Capitals: Burakovsky and Kuznetsov rotated during practice, but the Russian rookie took a double-minor high-sticking penalty late in Washington's overtime loss Monday and is the likely to be the one scratched. Who's hot: Blackhawks: Kane has four goals and 14 points in his past nine games. Capitals: Backstrom has seven goals and 11 points in his past eight games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AriGold Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Renaud Lavoie @renlavoietva 7m7 minutes ago It's now official, the Winter Classic will start on time. #tvasports #capitals #blackhawks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ActiveDouble Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Go Washington. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BanTSN Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Bring a pillow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justdean10 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Go Capital!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 The player intros were pretty cool this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Close calls at both ends. Pretty good pace early on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Nice dramatic breakaway goal for Eric Fehr. Pretty good in these outdoor games - he scored twice in the 2011 Winter Classic game. 1-0 Capitals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Ovechkin scores his 18th goal of the season and first in an outdoor game. 2-0 Capitals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Blackhawks right away make it 2-1. Patrick Sharp with the goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tearloch7 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 That penalty on Backstrom was classic 'game management' .. Toews interfered and hooked, while Backstrom briefly held the stick,and apparently because Cap's are up 2-1 it would be a good time to try and even it up? .. they should have called penalties both ways, or better yet, none .. Edit: Sutherland is reffing the game, so 'GM' of a rudimentary style may be the order of the day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfterMath35 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Listening to Scott Oake inform us on what songs OV an Kane listen to before games was beyond cringe worthy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 "If you take care of your stick, it will take care of you." - Don Cherry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 Great passing right there by the Blackhawks to set up Saad. 2-2. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanucksFan2323 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Great passing right there by the Blackhawks to set up Saad. 2-2. are you robot? like I'm just wondering Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 are you robot? like I'm just wondering What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CanucksFan2323 Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 What do you think? I think ur a human, but other people are saying ur a robot so I got confused Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master Mind Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 The game was fun to watch at first, but all these Chicago powerplays is really taking away from it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted January 1, 2015 Author Share Posted January 1, 2015 The game was fun to watch at first, but all these Chicago powerplays is really taking away from it. Yeah, pace has dropped off a bit here in the second. Might be the ice or maybe it's just the penalties taken by the Caps disrupting the flow, like you said. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canucks.brad Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 not bad of a game so far. hope the hawks take it to the capitals in the third go blackhawks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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