Photo: Amanda Bowen
3pm hockey today, everyone. Get your proverbial house in order and then settle in for Caps-Jets from THE PEG.
The Caps didn’t look good against Montreal. As the forwards and defensemen skated as if they were stuck in vasoline, Braden Holtby won the team the game. In fact, despite continuing to rack up wins, the Caps from the past 10 games or so have not been the Caps we had become accustomed to seeing early on this season. Some concerning trends are popping up. My concern meter isn’t high yet. I still think the Caps are a great team that hasn’t played like one for many of the past 10 games. In other words, I don’t think this is unavoidable regression; I think this is a Caps team falling from just what they are. Hopefully they don’t fall farther.
Today, in Winnipeg, the Caps can help to alleviate some of the concerning issues that we’ll get into more in the snapshot tomorrow.The trusty crew at CSN has you covered for the 3pm tilt.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 18-5-1 | 52.7% | 101.4 | 25.7% | 84.1% |
| Winnipeg Jets | 12-12-2 | 51.7% | 100.4 | 15.8% | 79.0% |
Projected Lineup
No changes at practice yesterday, but Marcus Johansson is a game-time decision. All signs point to Stan Galiev getting a jersey if Johansson can’t go.
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie
Johansson – Kuznetsov – Williams
Chimera – Beagle – Burakovsky
Laich – Latta – Wilson
Schmidt – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Orlov – Chorney
Holtby
Mathieu Perreault Looks Nice Again
Peter wrote this bit about Perreault. I do not condone his short-guy hate.
As you know, Winnipeg had ruined pint-sized, plucky plugger Mathieu Perreault. The frozen north had warped the 5’2″ forward into Darth Perry, a chaotic evil-aligned, Pax-infected, Crossed, Harkonnen-serving Savior from Klendathu. Or so we thought. November saw Perreault don the muzzy and salad combination you see above (courtesy of Ashley). Looks like our boy’s back. He’s almost on the brink of smiling there. What a gem he is.
p.s. Reminder that McPhee dumped Perreault for basically nothing so Tom Wilson could play under eight minutes a night in his rookie year under Adam Oates. — Peter
Storylines
- Despite a “tweak,” there’s a “probability” that Marcus Johansson will play today.
- Andre Burakovsky is way off his game.
- Tom Wilson = goals.
- Alex Ovechkin opens up about beer and mortality.
- Adam Stringham has some smart stuff on extended zone time.
- It’s December and the nation’s capital has a hockey and football team in first place. This hasn’t happened in a very long time.
A Lot of Feels
As someone who works in the substance abuse field and has been surrounded by music for as long as I can remember, Scott Weiland’s death gave me a lot of feels. Peter and I listed our top 5 STP songs, in no particular order. Feel free to list yours in the comments.
- Peter: Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Big Empty, Dead & Bloated, Interstate Love Song, Adhesive
- Pat: Sex Type Thing, Adhesive, Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart, Big Bang Baby, Interstate Love Song
