A Russian Offensive

Tarik at the Washington Post reports that HC Bruce Boudreau is shaking up Line 1 for the Washington Capitals.  The Capos Line 1 will go all Russian, supercharged with high octane offense.  Fellow Russians, Sergei Fedorov and Alexander Semin will join superstar Alex Ovechkin on Line 1.
The shake up comes amid a little disappointment in the Caps start.  The caps are sitting at 5-4-1, but the concern is not entirely over the won/loss record, but the lack of offense the Caps are producing.  The Caps were thought of in the off-season as one of the NHL’s most powerful and dynamic offenses, but the Caps, in reality, are struggling to score.  The Caps have scored 1 goal in their last two games combined and have scored 1 or less goals in 4 of the last 5 games.

“It might change before the game,” Boudreau said with a laugh before turning serious. “We have to move the lines around until I find the chemistry that’s going to work. I don’t like to move the lines as much as I’ve been moving them, but eventually, something is going to click and we’ll keep those lines together.”

The Capitals had a pretty potent Line 1 last season in Ovechkin, Victor Kozlov, and Nicklas Backstrom.  That exact Line has failed to produce much this season thus far, causing Boudreau to look around for other Line combinations to wake up the slumbering Caps.
Boudreau is also banking on the chemistry between the Russians, who played together during the World’s last summer.

Ovechkin, who has scored in only one game this season, said he’s hoping the all-Russian line can rediscover some of the magic they had together at worlds.

“We need to find something that works,” Ovechkin said. “We understand each other. We have a great center, a great right wing, so I just need to work hard and play well.”

Tarik provides the other shaken up Lines …

Laich-Backstrom-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Nylander-Clark
Brashear-Gordon-Bradley
The Caps face off against the Southeast division leader, Carolina Hurricanes, tonight at 7PM.  The caps are 4 points behind the division leaders and a win tonight will get the caps moving again.  Brent Johnson will mind the pipes tonight.