The Penguins come to town tonight. You already knew this, right? Or do you count on these game previews to inform you of the schedule? Please advise, reader.
Tonight’s game worries this writer. The Caps are shooting 12.4 percent at 5v5 this season, a number they won’t be able to sustain all season. The Penguins are shooting 4.9 percent at 5v5 this season, a number that is too low to be sustainable. So, will the PDO gods visit DC tonight to normalize things? Hopefully not. Hopefully, like Wilson Phillips, they can hold on for one more day. But if the percentages do normalize tonight, let the viewer beware.
Speaking of viewer beware, tonight’s game in on NBCSN at 8 PM.
Watch on CSN if you can. Sike. You can’t.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 6-1-0 | 55.1% | 103.2 | 31.8% | 83.3% |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 4-4-0 | 47.9% | 98.7 | 7.1% | 84.6% |
Projected Lineup
Per YA FAV, Katie Brown
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Oshie
Johansson – Backstrom – Williams
Chimera – Beagle – Wilson
Laich – Stephenson – Burakovsky
Orpik – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Chorney – Orlov
Holtby
Raining in Baltimore
It’s raining. And I’m in Baltimore. I don’t have a raincoat, so perhaps I need one of them. Please no phone call, though.
Storylines
- John Carlson is the league’s best kept secret.
- Corey on 10 years of Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby.
- Ovechkin on a clown question about Crosby.
- We have a magic stick sitch on our hands.
- The Schmidtuation continues to be total bull. Tyrone (?) Chorney hasn’t been bad, but he’s no Nate.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov is just adorable with his love of Edmonton.
- Need some narrative in your life today? Here’s Brooks Orpik on culture change and Barry Trotz.
- What TJ Oshie and Justin Williams have meant to the top-six.
- Ovechkin is the best? Ovechkin is the best.
- Oshie continues to fight the good fight.
- Do you like funhouse mirrors? How about early season stats? And Peter? Then, oh boy, do you need to read this.
- ICYMI, the snapshot returned on Sunday.
- Five questions with Trotz.
Hockey Fights Cancer
As part of a league-wide initiative, the Caps will be hosting Hockey Fights Cancer tonight at Verizon Center. They’ll be paying tribute to Andi Lambert. Here’s a helpful guide on ways you can get involved to fight this terrible disease that has touched too many of our lives.
