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Washington might have unfinished business with Rene Bourque

Bourque Hendricks

Retribution Part II?

That could be the theme of Saturday’s Washington-Montreal game as Rene Bourque -- who concussed Nicklas Backstrom with an elbow back on Jan. 3 -- appears to be in the Capitals’ crosshairs once again.

Bourque fought (and beat) Matt Hendricks last time the two teams met, but now Washington has a legitimate enforcer in the lineup -- Joel Rechlicz, recalled from AHL Hershey on Monday.

The timing of Rechlicz’s promotion was intriguing. So too were his comments about Bourque’s hit on Backstrom.

“Yeah, I heard it was a cheap shot,” Rechlicz told the Washington Post. “Hopefully I’m in the lineup for that game.”

Rechlicz is 6-foot-4, 230 lbs and led the AHL with 184 penalty minutes this year, fighting 12 times in 27 games. In his two games with Washington he’s yet to find a dance partner -- possibly because he only played 1:49 against Tampa and 2:37 against Florida -- though it wasn’t for a lack of trying. He asked Panthers’ enforcer Krys Barch to go but Barch declined, given his squad was leading on the scoreboard.

That said, Rechlicz doesn’t sound like he’ll let one rejection get him down.

I’m just going to go get my checks and if I’ve got to run a guy through the glass, force him to fight, that’s what you’ve got to do,” he said.