Caps vs Sabres Pregame: Living Well Is The Best Revenge

December 30, 2015 3:58 pm

The Sabres come to down on Wednesday night and the Caps only focus should be on getting two points. The Caps beat the Sabres 2-0 on Monday night. In that game, some stuff happened and some people were upset about it and some people are expecting more stuff to happen tonight. Noted face masher and sub-replacement level NHL player Zach Sill has been recalled to suit up for the guys in red.

I, for one, hope the Caps expend effort only on being the better hockey team. I don’t care about “the code” and I don’t care about sending any message other than we’re the better hockey team and we’re going to beat you.

Is this a good time to talk about how dumb fighting is? Regardless of what argument can be made for the purpose fighting serves, it doesn’t outweigh the health consequences, both short-term and long-term. You can call me anti-fighting, but I prefer to think of it as anti-brain injury or anti-CTE. My argument is that fighting in a hockey game isn’t worth dying over. I have a hard time believing there is a “yeah, but…” that can change my mind here.

Too many ex-enforcers have died prematurely or had serious health consequences as a result of fighting. The guys out on the ice, even the ones wearing the wrong colors, are fathers, brothers, husbands, sons and so on. Their families shouldn’t lose even a single day of experiences with their hockey playing loved one just because the dude bumped a goalie or whatever it is that people think we should risk brain injury to stand up against.

Play the game. Win the game. Don’t participate in activities that are likely to give you a brain injury. Puck drop’s at 7 PM. Coverage on CSN.

Team	Record	Possession	PDO	Power Play	Penalty Kill
Washington Capitals	27-6-2	51.3%	102.3	25.0%	85.0%
Buffalo Sabres	15-17-4	47.2%	98.6	19.8%	78.4%

Projected Lineup

Latta is out, Carlson is likely out. Sill is in and hockey playing ain’t the reason for it.

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie
Johansson – Kuznetsov – Williams
Chimera – Beagle – Wilson
Laich – Sill – Burakovsky

Orlov – Schmidt
Alzner – Niskanen
Carrick – Chorney

Holtby

Reminder: Just Win

Storylines

Braden Holtby has been the best goalie in the NHL this season.
A good interview with the best goalie in the league.
Here’s a silly save at practice by the best goalie in the league.
Speaking of the best goalie in the league, he’s been a busy dude.
Brian MacLellan has had one heck of a year.
The Caps are reportedly keeping tabs on Mike Richards‘ legal situation.
The Caps’ top 10 goals of 2015.

Defensemen Poll

Earlier today, we asked you to rank four anonymous defensemen. The information provided was admittedly incomplete, but the four stats provided can tell you a lot about a player.

Here’s the chart again, ICYMI.