AO's New Right Wing

Chris Bourque plays his second career NHL game this evening at Ottawa. He was recalled from Hershey on Tuesday and was immediately inserted on the #1 line with Alex Ovechkin and Michal Nylander. It may be that he has the right characteristics to fill this role. Chris Clark has been, by far, the most productive right wing opposite of Ovechkin. After starting the season on the 3rd line, Clark was moved back to the 1st line in the Oct. 24th game vs. Tampa. He scored 2 goals in that game and had 2 assists in the next game against Vancouver. Ovechkin had 5 points in the two games as well. In the last minute of the Vancouver game he was struck in the side of the head by an errant Ovechkin slap shot. Clark has been out of the lineup ever since. Bourque is almost a clone of Clark. Okay, a smaller version of Clark. He plays the same crash and bang style of hockey with the ability to score. He put up 25 goals with Hershey last season. If he can keep up the intensity and force defenders to play pucks and cover him, it may give Ovie a little extra room on the ice. And we know a little room for Ovie is a lot. We are hoping for Chris Clark's speedy recovery but maybe Bourque can be the answer for Ovie while he's out.