Hear that sound? Sounds like the death rattle of the 2015-16 regular season. The Caps have four more games until the Next Thing begins. We can talk about that Next Thing later– for now we’ve got a date with the Islanders.
Hang out with us at 7 PM on CSN please.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 55-17-6 | 51.9% | 101.0 | 22.8% (2nd) | 84.4% (4th) |
| New York Islanders | 43-26-9 | 50.1% | 100.5 | 18.7% (17th) | 85.1% (2nd) |
Projected Lineup
Morning skate was optional today, but here’s how they lined up yesterday. From Isa:
Ovechkin – Johansson – Oshie
Burakovsky – Kuznetsov – Williams
Chimera – Beagle – Wilson
Winnik – Richards – Galiev
Schmidt – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Orpik – Orlov
Holtby
There’s also this:
Backstrom is out. Looks like Latta will be in and Galiev will be out.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 5, 2016
so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Playoff Matchup Update
Looking like Philly. Mmm Tony Lukes.
Storylines
- The Caps have been shooting blanks at 5v5 lately. They might not be able to rely on special teams tonight: the Isles are among the best in the league at killing penalties. So it’s time to turn that shooting slump around. Everything else is looking real good.
- No Nick Backstrom until he’s 100%.
- Braden Holtby goes for Martin Brodeur’s single-season win record tonight. Err… to tie it. You know what I mean.
- We wrote two thoughtful pieces parsing the thought processes underlying the discussion of calling a player a “bust.” Here’s Myan’s piece, here’s mine. Hers is smart, mine is — hopefully– sorta funny.
- The unsealed documents brouhaha told us the hidden story behind Ovi’s mirrored visor.
- I’d write more, but today is nuts. Someone sideswiped my car (parked, unoccupied) and dipped out without leaving a note. Might be totalled. Plus I’m sick. Yech.
#RMNB9 is on Saturday
