Graphic by Ondrej T.

I don’t have much to say. The time has arrived.

Capitals versus Islanders. 7 PM. Verizon Center, CSN, and USA Network. First team to four wins advances.

Do it.

Projected Lineup

From this morning via Alex Prewitt, and augmented with Emoji.

Forward Lines

Defense Pairings

Starting Goaltender

Oh God, the Playoffs

I’m going to throw up. I’m going to throw up forever.

Sizing Up the Islanders

A series of bloggity blogs about the Caps, the Isles, and the playoffs in general.

• Check out our awesome podcast, which didn’t go off-topic at all, no
• The Caps probably have the special teams and goaltending edge
• But not so much during 5v5
• Derek Miller has a comprehensive and insightful series of graphs on the topic
• Got to shut down John Tavares— so obviously we need Jason Chimera
• How Trotz uses his players is super important
• Four-on-four hockey may loom large

With one more coming from Pat in a bit.

Storylines

• Tom Wilson will not play in game one as he recovers from injury. Not injury but also not playing are Andre Burakovsky and Dmitry Orlov.
• This is the first time the Caps and Isles have met in the playoffs in 22 years.
• Alex Ovechkin scores 0.53 goals per game in the playoffs, 3rd best among forwards since 2005 (Kessel and Cammalleri.)
• Playoff games are 36 percent more hitty than non-playoff games, apparently.
• Nope, nothing in particular has happened in Boston sports news today.
• The referee situation, and commentary by your boy Ed Frankovic

3 zebras listed for Caps-Isles tonight: Dwyer, Pollock, & Furlatt. None are in my bottom 5, but that could change after tonight.

— Ed Frankovic (@EdFrankovic) April 15, 2015

• You know what, just go check out Japers Rink’s Caps Clips. There is so much going on today I want to throw up.

What You’re Missing on TV Tonight

Nothing. You’re missing nothing. This is the playoffs. This is all that matters. This is why we’re here. CRASH THE NET.

Full RMNB Coverage of Game One