Gameday: vs. Boston, Apr. 19 - Round One, Game Four

It's gonna get ugly.

The Washington Capitals will welcome (or at least grudgingly welcome) the Boston Bruins to Verizon Center on Thursday evening as they play game four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals.  Boston leads the series two games to one, having won game three late in regulation when Zdeno Chara unloaded a slap shot that was tipped in to the top corner perfectly by Roman Hamrlik.  The Bruins and Capitals split games one and two, respectively, in Boston last week. This is a big game for both teams, as the Bruins look to snatch a commanding 3-1 lead heading in to Boston for game five, and the Capitals look to steal home-ice advantage back from the Bruins after giving it away on Monday.

Tim Thomas will get the start this evening, as he has in every playoff game for the Bruins in the last two seasons.  Thomas is 2-1 on this postseason, allowing six goals in ten-plus periods of action for a 1.47 GAA, .943 GAA, and one shutout; he made 29 shots on 32 saves in game three.  Outside of the crease, the Bruins have a pair of concussions in their forward corps, with both Marc Savard and Nathan Horton out indefinitely with those head injuries.  Defenseman Johnny Boychuk (face/head) is officially day to day, but is not on the trip in Washington and will not play in this evening's game.

Dale Hunter is expected to roll in goal with Braden Holtby despite a sub par game three performance that saw the rookie netminder allow four goals on 29 shots. He has started all three games in this postseason, compiling a 1.77 GAA and .942 save percentage.  The Capitals do not have any injuries on their roster currently, but will be without Nicklas Backstrom for this game, as he was suspended one game for the match penalty he received at the end of game three. In order to compensate for Backstrom's loss, Mike Knuble will return to the lineup and play on the fourth line, meaning that Mattias Sjogren and Jeff Halpern will be the healthy scratches.  On defense, John Erskine will be in the lineup for the first time in over two months, meaning Jeff Schultz will be a healthy scratch on the back end along with Dmitry Orlov.

Puck drops 7:42-ish.  No recap from me tonight because of school obligations. As always, follow me on Twitter here for news and updates.
Follow @HarryHawkings