Photo: Alex Brandon
The Capitals seized an unlikely victory on Monday. The home team was outplayed throughout, but one improbable shot from Jay Beagle and a superlative effort from Braden Holtby gave the Caps a series lead they might not have otherwise deserved. If they want to put the Rangers on the brink of elimination, tonight at 7:30 PM on NBCSN, they’re gonna have to get better results from their top line.
Caps lead the series 2-1.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 45-26-11 | 51.9% | 100.3 | 25.3% | 81.2% |
| New York Rangers | 53-22-7 | 50.6% | 101.7 | 16.8% | 84.3% |
Projected Lineup
No changes.
Forwards
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Defense
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Goaltender
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A Vollman Player Usage Chart for the Defense
Packaged by War on Ice. Annotated by me.
Storylines
- Braden Holtby is coming off an immaculate performance. Winning a playoff game in which your team scores only one goal isn’t a common occurrence: Holtby ranks 13th by shots saved.
- This story on Mike Green is fantastic. Also fantastic: Mike Green.
- Rob Vollman wrote a piece for ESPN Insider about Trotz’s bold use of Joel Ward on the top line lately.
- Michael Latta is sick (unbelievable) and did not skate with the team this morning. Eric Fehr is doing better and intends to travel, but we don’t know when he’ll return to the lineup. Soon, please.
- Alex Ovechkin has been nominated for the Ted Lindsay, the peer-voted MVP award. I think he’ll win it, but I also don’t care.
- On nicknames, I and II. On celebrity fans. On wikipedia vandalism. On EDM titans with uncertain hockey allegiances. On fan-videos that spell my name wrong.
- If there’s a game on Sunday, it won’t be a nooner.
