From Kings Insider, defaced by Adam Vingan
That win over Pittsburgh was fun, but it was the only victory the Caps have had in more than two weeks. Tonight won’t be easy either, as the Kings come to town with a Cup on their back and a chip on their shoulder– they’re not happy about their record so far.
In the Caps’ favor, however, are some bold new lines courtesy of Barry Trotz. This could be wild. We shall see at 7 PM on CSN.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 25-15-10 | 52.3% | 100.2 | 23.5% | 80.7% |
| Los Angeles Kings | 21-16-12 | 54.5% | 99.9 | 19.5% | 77.8% |
Projected Lineup
Turn and face the strange. Look out, you rock’n’rollers. From the Caps official twitter account, which may or may not be right about this:
Johansson – Backstrom – Ovechkin
Laich – Fehr– Ward
Burakovsky – Kuznetsov – Brouwer
Volpatti – Beagle – Wilson
Orpik – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Hillen – Green
Holtby
(Is Ovi really on the right wing? Doubt it; we’ll see at warm-ups.)
Best Thing on the Internet Today
The Horn Guy shared this earlier. It’s a riot.
Storylines
- Don’t let the Kings’ record trick you. They’re still deadly; fourth in possession. They’ll be a playoff team before April.
- Troy Brouwer will play in his 500th career NHL game tonight. Brouwer spoke to the MSE about the milestone after morning skate. The Brouwer Rangers will be especially unbearable tonight.
- About those lines? Yeah, I dunno. We’ll know for sure at warm-ups.
- Keep on throwing stuff at the top line and see what sticks, as long as the thing you throw definitely isn’t Eric Fehr, because that would be nuts. Muneeb Alam analyzed three top dudes over at Japers Rink. No beagle.jpg in that article.
- The “trade Mike Green“ talk is escalating.
- The Caps have been losing lately, but they’re not discouraged. Good for them. They’ve been playing good hockey overall.
- A tactical study of the Capitals’ forecheck.
- Jason Chimera is likely scratched. Aaron Volpatti returns to action for the first time since April 5th. Volpatti has spent a long time on IR with a neck injury, which might have affected his much-maligned (by me) play last season. Aaron seems psyched for tonight, and I am too. He’ll be on the fourth line, which I doubt will get even 9 minutes of ice time.
- Nathan Walker is done for the season. Damn.
- Troubled forward Ryan Malone, formerly of the Lightning, is on waivers.
- He’s never gonna come to a game, is he?
- Polite reminder: Make no plans for 3/21. Thank you.
You’re Missing All the Good TV Tonight
I can’t get over how good Parks and Recreation is. Every episode doubles me over with laughter and tugs at my heartstrings, which, I’m surprised to learn, are connected to a functioning human heart and not a cold, mechanized, four-chambered hate engine.
Plus: Agent Carter. That show is diesel too. I’m gonna time-shift the heck out of both shows after the game.
Tomorrow: The Field Effect at the Sidebar
My friend Doug and I played a bunch of shows together back in the day. He’s since moved to Boston (boo), where his band The Field Effect is tearing it up. They’re playing at the Sidebar in Baltimore tomorrow night. Come on out. We’ll have a beer, see some music, and talk about how the Caps beat the Kings 5-2 on Tuesday.
