Gameday: at Tampa Bay, May 4 - Round Two, Game Four

Oy, vey.

The Washington Capitals are in Tampa Bay this evening to take on the Lightning in game four of their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinal series.  The Capitals trail in the series 3-0, having lost game one 4-2, game two 3-2, and game three 4-3.  This is it now, folks.  The Caps have to win tonight to even have a chance to climb out of this hole, and send the series back to Verizon Center.  It is literally do or die for Washington tonight.

Guy Boucher will give the call in net to the postseason leader in both GAA and Save percentage, Dwayne Roloson.  This will be Roloson's eleventh consecutive start in the Tampa cage.  On the injury front, both Pavel Kubina and Simon Gagne remain out with back and head injuries, respectively, that they suffered in game one.

To me, it is a toss-up as to who starts in goal for the Caps, but my money is on Semyon Varlamov after Bruce Boudreau criticized Michal Neuvirth during last night's game.  Varlamov has not played in these playoffs and has not started a game in over three weeks now.  Outside the crease, I expect Matt Hendricks to return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch the last two games; it remains to be seen who would be scratched if that happened.  Mike Green did not play much in the third period last night; he has a lower body injury and is questionable.  Sean Collins would likely replace him.  The players who are almost certain to be healthy scratches will be Jay Beagle, Tyler Sloan, DJ King, and all of the Hershey call-ups.

Armageddon starts 7:09-ish.  Check back later today for updates from the morning skates.