So begins the Capitals’ sojourn through western Canada, home of mostly bad hockey teams. We start with the Edmonton Oilers, a team who are probably a lot better than their record seems. It’ll be a late game– puck drops after 9:30 PM, so make sure you do all your homework first.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 3-0-2 | 52.92% | 103.6 | 25.0% | 90.0% |
| Edmonton Oilers | 1-4-1 | 50.93% | 90.80 | 17.6% | 76.2% |
Projected Lineup
According to Alex Prewitt, Beagle’s back, baby. He’ll take Brooks Laich’s spot. It looks like Latta will step in for Brown as well.
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Brouwer
Johansson – Burakovsky – Beagle
Chimera – Fehr – Ward
O’Brien – Kuznetsov – Latta
Orpik – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Schmidt – Green
Holtby
Here’s Stuff Oilers Analyst Tyler Dellow Has Favorited
He doesn’t tweet about hockey much anymore, but he’s still fave-ing stuff!
https://twitter.com/67sound/status/524236108872548352
Want to see what #Leafs' new analytics technology looks like? Here's my video with some demo material: https://t.co/OdXCJidBZx
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) October 16, 2014
Just hanging out and waiting for the Oilers game to start. pic.twitter.com/5PbB1mVLyI
— blackbetty07 (@blackbetty07) October 17, 2014
Fascinating.
Storylines
- You NEED TO READ Ovechkin’s interview with Sportsnet.
- Edmonton’s 90.8 PDO is the lowest in the league. That means they’re scoring less and getting scored on more than we’d expect based on their shot differential. Let’s hope regression to the mean doesn’t kick in tonight.
- Great piece on NHL.com on how Matt Niskanen is leading the Caps defense.
- Edmonton went nutzo for the Caps yesterday.
- Brooks Laich did not make the trip, but his injury seems like a 10-day thing.
- John Erskine got hurt during practice, which is not a thing that should hurt players.
- Tom Wilson is going to Hershey this weekend, and I leave it up to you to interpret what that means.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov is cool with his role on fourth line for now.
- Former Caps Boyd Gordon and Matt Hendricks skate together for the Oilers. They’re called the Wagon line. Ugh.
- Did you get to read this week’s Awesome Index? Even JP thinks things are awesome right now; it’s not just me.
What You’re Missing on TV
Tonight’s episode of Law & Order: SVU sounds like a hoot. It’s called “Pornstar’s Requiem.” Evie Barnes answers a modeling ad hoping to make some cash for tuition, but the job quickly spirals into online pornography. When her classmates discover her double life, they cross the boundary between fiction and reality. Even though she’s not the one on trial, Evie is forced to prove her innocence in court.
I seriously had a dream Ovi got traded to the Islanders.
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