Martin Biron v. Cristobal Huet
The Flyers and Capitals are the last series in the playoffs to get kicked off, but I think they're saving the best for last. This promises to be a great battle between two hot teams with great players on each bench. Neither of these teams came close to the playoffs last season, and their turnaround has been nothing short of incredible.
Martin Biron will be in net and making his first NHL playoff start. It seems kind of surprising, but Buffalo was never good when he was the starter, and Ryan Miller took over by the time they made the playoffs.
I've already outlined what the Flyers have to do to win, so I'm going to focus on the predicted lines for tonight, courtesy of Bill Meltzer.
Prospal - Briere - Hartnell
Thoresen - Richards - Lupul
Upshall - Carter - Knuble
Cote - Dowd - Umberger
Coburn - Timonen
Smith - Modry
Kukkonen - Jones
It's kind of disappointing that Thoresen is on the Richards line ahead of Umberger, and I hope he gets plenty of ice time anyway. Thoresen is really a prototypical fourth line player, and you could put Umberger on the Briere line, and put Hartnell with Richards and Lupul again.
Derian Hatcher could be back at some point during this series. If he's healthy and capable of playing, that would be a huge boost. He's a tough defenseman, and guys like him thrive in the postseason.
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