Photo: NOAA
When the Washington Capitals play the Buffalo Sabres tonight, they’ll be playing one of the worst teams in memory. You could say the Sabres are the Caps’ “weakest competition yet,” but you’d be doing so at your own peril. First, you should verify your translation, and second, the Sabres have won their last two games.
If the Caps fall into another lull, the Sabres, now cured of snowbound cabin fever, will attack. Instead, the ideal outcome would be the Caps helping Buffalo on their quest for McEichel with a clean, blowout, rego win. 7 PM on CSN. Game on.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 9-7-3 | 55.99% | 98.90 | 24.1% | 82.0% |
| Buffalo Sabres | 5-13-2 | 42.01% | 99.28 | 6.8% | 78.2% |
Projected Lineup
No changes, according to Alex Prewitt. Holtby in net.
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Wilson
Johansson – Burakovsky – Brouwer
Chimera – Beagle – Ward
Latta– Kuznetsov – Fehr
Orpik – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Schmidt – Green
Holtby
Scariest Thing on the Internet Today
Every 1.5 seconds I pee myself a little.
Storylines
- The Capitals have re-assigned Chris Brown to Hershey.
- “The Sabres are trying to be the worst team in the league, and they’re doing a heck of a job.” Great stuff from PuckBuddys and Die by the Blade in the pregame. Also note: Die by the Blade won the 2012 RMNB SB Nation Sports Blog Blog Name Ranking Index.
- No Michal Neuvirth tonight as he is hurt, per the ex-Caps crease curse. I wish him a speedy recovery and then a life of mediocrity.
- No, but seriously. Buffalo might be the worst team in decades. If you rank the last 360 teams by their unblocked shot-attempt percentage, the Sabres are 360th.
- But they’ll be rested. The Sabres’ game against the Rangers got canceled due to the obscene amount of snow.
- P.S. that’s global warming.
- Barry Trotz has revealed himself to be not-so-friendly towards hockey data intelligence: “What analytics doesn’t show for me is when the game’s on the line, when games or important situations happen, it doesn’t show me who’s going to win them.”
- Poor Alex Tanguay got seriously hurt by that Ovechkin slapper.
- Hockeystats.ca has added fan salutes to their game reports. I love it. I check that site after every period. Highly recommended.
What You’re Missing on TV Tonight
Nothing good on TV unless you’re playing Smash Bros, which is apenuts. Who’s your player? I used to be a Kirby guy, but I’m coming to see the error in my ways.
