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Caps vs. Stars Pregame: Two Points Needed

Photo: LM OTERO/AP

The Caps are looking to bounce back from the 3-1 loss to the Rangers on Wednesday. Dallas is in town, a team who beat the Caps 5-4 back in January. The Stars are all but out of the playoff picture in the Western Conference and are playing their second game in as many nights. But don’t be fooled. The Stars are a top-ten possession team over the past six weeks, and if the Caps take them lightly, they’ll see another two points slip away on home ice.

Puck drop is at 7 PM on CSN.

Team Record Possession PDO Power Play Penalty Kill
Washington Capitals 36-22-10 51.8 100.4 25.0% 81.8%
Dallas Stars 31-27-10 51.9 99.3 17.8% 80.6%

Projected Lineup

Optional morning skate this morning, so here’s my best guess on lines for tonight:

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Johansson
Glencross – Kuznetsov – Brouwer
Chimera – Fehr – Ward
Burakovsky – Laich – Wilson

Schmidt – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Gleason – Green

Holtby

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Storylines

  • Injuries to the blue line means the Caps are leaning heavily on a couple guys.
  • Injury updates: Brooks Orpik and Jay Beagle are out tonight. Michael Latta is probably out. Per Mike Green, Mike Green is in.
  • Alex Prewitt is reporting that Cameron Schilling has been sent to Hershey since Green is good to go.
  • Prewitt also reports that Andre Burakovsky is up on an emergency recall and is likely to play unless Latta can go. Brooks Laich will likely slide over to center for tonight.
  • Alex Ovechkin is still doing good things.
  • A tidbit on why the Caps balked at sending Joel Ward to Chicago in a deal for Patrick Sharp

Good Music

Here’s one of my favorite songs by Against Me! It’s called Because of the Shame. Why? Because.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Stars

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