Caps vs Flyers Pregame: Take Two

April 22, 2016 1:57 pm

Washington Capitals' Brooks Orpik (44) is helped off the ice after an injury during the second period of Game 3 in the first round of the NHL Stanley Cup hockey playoffs against the Philadelphia Flyers, Monday, April 18, 2016, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Photo: Matt Slocum

The Caps return to Washington tonight in hopes of finally closing out this series. After failing to eliminate the Flyers in Game Four, the Caps have one mission: end it. End it now.

I’m not particularly picky about how the Caps win; I’d just like to see them lock this series up already. Alas, it would be nice to see some of that mythical even-strength scoring, the kind that’s been nearly nonexistent for the past four games.

Will they or won’t they? Tune into CSN-DC at 7 PM to find out.

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

Per Katie Brown:

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie

Burakovsky – Kuznetsov – Williams
Chimera – Richards – Johansson
Winnik – Beagle – Wilson

Schmidt – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Orlov – Chorney

Holtby

The Stars Have Aligned

Alex Ovechkin: "We control our destiny right now, in this moment. We have to play hard, play simple and play smart."

— Katie Brown (@katiebhockey) April 22, 2016

@russianmachine @kat326 Took the liberty of making this this morning using part of your logo art. Hope it's ok pic.twitter.com/FuP7OwHoaK

— Kevin (@madJDMtyte) April 22, 2016

Storylines

After being checked in the head during Game Four, Tom Wilson wants to “send the Flyers packing.” Hey, so do we!
Here’s an ambiguous pseudo-update on Brooks Orpik.
The end is within sight for the Caps. The end of this series, that is.
Friendly reminder: the Caps need to banish slow starts.
“Capitals have been weak at even strength.” Headline says it all, folks.
The Flyers have a game plan for winning this series, apparently.
If when the Caps advance to the second round, they probably won’t be facing Henrik Doneqvist.
Besides the obvious, what do TJ Oshie and Alex Ovechkin have in common?
New series, same old story: the Caps need to find their “killer instinct.”
Remember that time when Holtby and Neuvirth both played for the Caps?

Goodnight, Sweet Prince

This, hands down, is my favorite New Yorker cover of 2016. Now, which Prince tunes are you jamming to today?

In honor of Prince, an early look at next week's cover, "Purple Rain": https://t.co/lF0Nwyd7q8 pic.twitter.com/myN15OxsCO

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) April 21, 2016

Full RMNB Coverage of Game Five