BallHype - Latest Bruce Boudreau News Articles

Varlamov, Iginla rule in November with clutch performances

Thu, 3 Dec 2009 02:55:22 +0000

When Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau pondered where Semyon Varlamov's game would be at the start of the season, history ...

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Ovechkin skates, new lines

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 16:04:56 +0000

With Ovechkin out of the lineup, Coach Bruce Boudreau has adjusted his forward lines. Here's what they look like at the moment: Laich-Backstrom-Semin Fleischmann-Morrison-Fehr Giroux-Perreault-Clark Sloan-Steckel-Bradley Wearing orange jerseys are: Ovechkin-Beagle-Knuble The only defenseman not skating is Shaone Morrisonn, who is taking a few days off from practice as he recovers from a concussion.

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Morning roundup: NHL hits back

Wed, 2 Dec 2009 15:20:28 +0000

The morning roundup is officially, entirely back from vacation. Rejoice! Alex Ovechkin: reckless, both on the ice and in the hair salon. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) Alex Ovechkin was suspended two games for a controversial hit -- a knee-on-knee collision with Tim Gleason -- that has him nursing a right knee injury and Coach Bruce Boudreau contemplating a sit-down with his star about some "pretty reckless" play. Ovechkin was assessed a five-minute major penalty and was ejected in the first period for kneeing Gleason. Though both players went down hard, Gleason emerged without an injury. Ovechkin, though, had to be helped to the visitors' dressing room. "I don't mean to go knee-to-knee on him," Ovechkin said before the suspension was announced. "I just go straight to take a body hit, but he turned so quick." The fact that Ovechkin was permitted to lace up skates at all Tuesday backs up the

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Boudreau on Ovechkin: 'He's pretty reckless'

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 18:01:41 +0000

Bruce Boudreau said he plans to talk to Alex Ovechkin about playing "pretty reckless" and perhaps even toning down his aggressiveness. Moment later, though, the coach said he doubts such a conversation would have any effect on his star player. Here's the majority of Boudreau's press conference after this morning's practice: Q: Surprised that Alex skated this morning? A: It's a lot better than I thought it would be. It goes to show how strong he is. Q: Do you know if he's going to miss any time? A: I have no idea. He's still pretty tender. So we'll see. Q: Will you err on the side of caution and hold him out at least a game? A: It's such a tough call with Alex. It would definitely be a 'let's sit down and talk to George [McPhee] and everybody' before we make that decision." Q:Did Alex have an MRI

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Ovechkin: 'No comment'

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 03:08:43 +0000

I caught up to Alex Ovechkin before he boarded the team bus following tonight's 3-2 win in Raleigh, but the star winger would only say "no comment" when I inquired about his knee and the first period hit that resulted in his ejection. I did, however, get to observe him walking. He had a slight limp, but he did not appear to be wearing a brace and was not using crutches. Coach Bruce Boudreau said he's more concerned about a potential injury than the possibility of action from the NHL. "Anytime Alex is hurt, I'm concerned," he said. "He's stiff right now. But I don't know how long he's going to be out, if he's out at all. With these things, the next morning you find out a lot more." As for the hit, Boudreau said: "It looked like he learned with his shoulder to me. [Tim] Gleason put a

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Theodore appears set to start in Carolina

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 17:41:08 +0000

Coach Bruce Boudreau wouldn't announce his goalie for tonight's game against the 'Canes, but based on the morning skate, it looks like Jose Theodore is going to get his first start in seven games. Semyon Varlamov is hot, but Boudreau doesn't like his goalies to sit for too long. It will be Theodore's first game since yielding five goals on 18 shots in a 5-2 loss in New Jersey more than two weeks ago. He's facing the league's worst team and least productive offense (57 goals). Alex Ovechkin, for comparison's sake, has 18 goals on his own. Some other notes and quotes from the morning skate:

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Caps 4, Canadiens 3 (SO)

Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:55:19 +0000

Well, the Caps certainly make it interesting, don't they? They took a 2-0 lead. Then, inexplicably, they stopped skating in the second period and watched that lead evaporate. They even fell behind in the third period after running into penalty problems...again. "How often do you see that happen?" Coach Bruce Boudreau asked. "You score two goals early. Then you relax, the other teams comes on and you can't turn it back on again and they get the goal and they end up winning." But on this night, Eric Fehr, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Semyon Varlamov made sure the Capitals got two points. "I'm glad we came back," Boudreau added. "That's the first time we've scored with the goalie pulled and we only had 15 shots on goal at that time, so I wasn't too hopeful until the final three minutes when we started to put a little bit

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Ovechkin looks to breakout

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 18:10:34 +0000

The morning skate just wrapped up here at Bell Centre and, as expected, it looks like Semyon Varlamov will get the start in goal. His counterpart appears to be Carey Price, who made 32 stops in a 3-2 Canadiens' victory when the teams met in Washington on Nov. 20. Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn (concussion) made the trip and will be a game-time decision, according to Bruce Boudreau. But the coach said none of the other injured players, including Alexander Semin, made the trip, which continues on to Raleigh for a game on Monday.

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Giroux recalled, on top line

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:40:37 +0000

Alexandre Giroux has been recalled from the Bears and is skating on the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom this morning. Giroux has taken the roster spot of swingman Tyler Sloan, who returned to Calgary for personal reasons. He's expected to rejoin the team soon. Also, Shaone Morrisonn (concussion) has returned to practice and appears to be participating fully. But Alexander Semin (wrist) is not back. Earlier in the week, Coach Bruce Boudreau indictated that Semin might be back today. Karl Alzner is still here, too. I'll have more after practice.

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Boudreau: 'We stopped playing'

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 19:49:35 +0000

There was no getting around it in the locker room following practice at Kettler today: The Capitals let what should have been a win slip away in Ottawa last night. After a strong second period gave Washington a 3-1 lead heading into the third, the team's bad habit of taking costly penalties when there's an opportunity to go for the jugular reared its ugly head once again. The Capitals have now lost four of their past five games and given up leads in all of those defeats. In fact, the Caps have held a lead in the second period or later in all 24 games this season and watched six different third-period leads slip away. For that very reason, between the second and third periods, Coach Bruce Boudreau stressed how important it was to stay out of the penalty box and embrace a killer instinct to put the Senators away.

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Plenty of Caps absent from practice

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 17:47:39 +0000

The Capitals started practice about 20 minutes later than expected, but Coach Bruce Boudreau is putting his players through some fairly rigorous five-on-five drills considering the team didn't get back from Ottawa until 1:30 am last night. Injured defensemen Milan Jurcina and Shaone Morrisonn are both skating, but Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Mike Knuble, Tom Poti and Boyd Gordon are all missing. All the Hershey guys (John Carlson, Jay Beagle, and Andrew Gordon) are all still here. More to come once the team gets off the ice.

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Varlamov likely to start in Ottawa

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:54:46 +0000

I'm working on something else for later in the week, so I'm going to be brief: *The Caps' injury situation might not get any better before tonight's game. Defenseman Shaone Morrisonn (concussion) skated this morning said he's getting close but that he doesn't expect to play tonight. "I felt pretty good out there, but I'm not 100 percent yet," Morrisonn said. "They don't want to rush something like that." Coach Bruce Boudreau later told reporters that Morrisonn will take warmups and be a game-time decision. *Semyon Varlamov came off the ice first here at Scotiabank Place, which generally means he's going to get the start. The rookie is 7-1-1 with a 1.94 goals against average and .933 save percentage in his last eight games, and a 1.23 goals against average and .957 save percentage in his last four. *Varlamov is expected to oppose Ottawa backup goalie Brian Elliott. *It also

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Morning roundup: Injuries taking a toll

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:44:47 +0000

Tom Poti, left, is the latest Cap to suffer an injury. (John McDonnell/The Washington Post) As the injuries continue to pile up, the Capitals will have to see how much depth they have. The team could again be without seven players who were on the opening-night roster when they play the Senators at Scotiabank Place tonight: The recent rash of injuries has forced Coach Bruce Boudreau to put players in positions in which they're not completely comfortable (left wing Tomas Fleischmann struggled when he lined up as a right wing against Montreal), give significant ice time to rookies before they're ready for it, and lean more on others than he would like. (Mike Green, for example, skated a season-high 31 minutes 38 seconds against the Maple Leafs.) "You can't use it as an excuse because that makes it look like you're looking for a crutch," Boudreau said. "But there's

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Maple Leafs 2, Caps 1 (SO)

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:18:41 +0000

Reaction to tonight's humbling 2-1 shootout loss to the lowly Leafs was all over the place in the visitors' dressing room at Air Canada Centre. Coach Bruce Boudreau said his players looked worn out, a combination of playing on back to back nights and performing under the strain of so many injuries. It would be hard to argue with him. Then there was captain Chris Clark, who was annoyed about his team's second straight flat start and its inconsistent effort from shift to shift, period to period, against the league's worst team. Again, it would be hard to argue with him. Both, in my opinion, have valid points. But the Leafs? Really? With an early flight to Ottawa in a few hours, I'm going to keep things brief tonight. If you haven't already, check out my game story here and then come on back for a few notes that

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Varlamov appears set to start

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:23:09 +0000

Here's a quick run down of the Caps' lineup/injury situation from this morning's optional skate at ACC: *Semyon Varlamov appears to be line to start tonight at ACC while it also looks like he'll be backed up by Jose Theodore. Michal Neuvirth, meantime, has been reassigned to Hershey to make room for right Andrew Gordon, who was recalled from the Bears today. "We had to make room on the cap, so we sent Nuevirth back down," Coach Bruce Boudreau explained. "And we needed a roster spot, as well." Why Gordon? He's got 20 points (eight goals, 10 assists) for Hershey.

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Canadiens 3, Caps 2

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:49:58 +0000

The Caps came out slow against Carey Price and the Canadiens, then poured it on late. But in the estimation of Coach Bruce Boudreau and several of his players, this game was lost in the first period and the opening minutes of the second. "The biggest thing is I don't think we were ready at the start of the game," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I think we thought, 'We're the Washington Capitals and we're going to go out there and it's going to be an easy win. But there's no easy wins in the National Hockey League." "When we got the sense of urgency in the last two periods," he added. "Sometimes it's too late when the other goalie is on top of his game." I covered a decent bit in my game story, but after you finish reading that, come on back for a few notes and quotes:

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Poti suffers upper-body injury

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:55:44 +0000

Tom Poti left tonight's game early in the second period with an upper-body injury. The Caps won't comment on the nature or extent of the ailment, other than to say that the defenseman is day to day. Coach Bruce Boudreau said the Caps would likely need to recall someone from Hershey. Boudreau also said he doesn't expect Alexander Semin to make tomorrow's road trip to Toronto.

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Neuvirth to start vs. Montreal

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:15:13 +0000

Michal Neuvirth will make his first start of the season against the Canadiens tonight, Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He had a great training camp and then got hurt," Boudreau said. "We wanted to see him play." The 21-year-old's last start in Washington was a 5-2 loss to Carolina March 3. Neuvirth will be backed up Semyon Varlamov.

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Boudreau keeps expectations for Carlson in check

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:14:40 +0000

Now that six Washington Capitals are nursing injuries with a four-games-in-six-nights stretch set to begin tomorrow at home against Montreal, the big story of the day at KCI was the re-appearance of 2008 first-round pick John Carlson, called up from Hershey last night thanks to the bumps and bruises along the Capitals' blue line. The 19-year-old made an impression on the organization when he made his professional debut last spring during the Bears' Calder Cup run, and followed it up by making himself a tough cut during this year's training camp. Carlson, listed at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds, has 10 points and is tied for the team lead with a +14 rating through 17 games with the Bears this season. Carlson will likely be paired with Tom Poti when he plays his first NHL game tomorrow night, but Coach Bruce Boudreau wants to make sure Carlson -- and fans -- don't

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