^ Inevitable
The Caps are off to a rockin’ start against the Flyers. Their 2-0 win on Thursday gave us a lot to smile about. Nate Schmidt, here’s to you.
Now it’s Saturday, and Sean Couturier is out, plus the Flyers have yet to score a goal this series. They’re a feisty team and eager to remedy some of their mistakes from the other night. Caps fans: hold onto your hats and hold onto your hearts.
Puck drop. 7 PM. CSN-DC. It’s gonna be lit.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 56-18-8 | 52.0% | 101.1 | 21.9% (5th) | 85.2% (2nd) |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 41-27-14 | 50.1% | 100.5 | 18.9% (11th) | 80.5% (20th) |
Projected Lineup
There was an optional skate this morning, so here’s a gander at tonight’s lines:
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie
Burakovsky – Kuznetsov – Williams
Chimera – Richards – Johansson
Winnik – Beagle – Wilson
Orpik – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Schmidt – Orlov
Holtby
It’s Too Early to Get Excited About This, but Whatever
Updated Stanley Cup Probabilities pic.twitter.com/vXrE71cgr6
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) April 16, 2016
Thirteen percent. That’s lower than your chances of getting Chipotle for dinner tonight but higher than your chances of getting norovirus at Chipotle for dinner tonight.
Here’s another, less sunny, model:
Cup predictions heading into today's games. pic.twitter.com/roKeAbG8FQ
— Matt Cane (@Cane_Matt) April 16, 2016
Storylines
- Brayden Schenn “knows he must keep stepping up his game.” Oh, gawd. If his current game is blatantly trying to injure Caps players, what does stepping it up look like?
- Fighting is great and all, but is it conducive to winning a series?
- Sean Couturier, you’re out for two weeks. Auf Wiedersehen.
- The good, the bad, and the ugly from Game 1.
- In the playoffs, what does shot-blocking mean for goaltenders?
- Speaking of which, Braden Holtby is excellent at a lot of things, including killing penalties.
- Add Max Scherzer and the entire Nats team to the list, and don’t forget these adorable babies!
- I hope you find someone who loves you the way Mike Richards loves to play hockey.
- For Andre Burakovsky, things are going great, and they’re only getting better.
- Evgeny Kuznetsov is always one step ahead of you.
- If you are cynical or a generally hateful person with no knowledge of how to string words in the English language together, this one’s for you.
A Little Mood Music
Off Pyromania, a litle Def Leppard for your afternoon.
