The Capitals are beat up, but they managed a win over the Oilers in a fun one on Friday. There is no rest for the weary though, as the Caps have an early evening date with the Preds, who are barely holding on to a wild card playoff spot.
Game’s at 5 PM on CSN. There, I managed to get through the introduction without mentioning Filip Forsberg and his back-to-back hat tricks. Wait. Dammit.
| Team | Record | SA% | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Capitals | 41-12-7 | 52.8% | 104.4 | 21.9% | 84.5% |
| Nashville Predators | 29-22-9 | 51.4% | 100.2 | 18.8% | 82.2% |
Projected Lines
It’s gonna be another weird one. Here’s how they lined up last night. We don’t expect many changes, except in goal.
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Connolly
Johansson – Kuznetsov – Williams
Sanford – Eller – Barber
Winnik – Beagle – Wilson
Alzner – Carlson
Orlov – Chorney
Ness – Schmidt
Grubauer
Did You Know?
Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg was actually drafted by the Washington Capitals. It’s true! Actually, for a few years, Forsberg was considered a promising prospect by the team.
Though no one knows what actually happened, Forsberg mysteriously and without explanation moved to Nashville, where he has done nothing of note.
For example, he definitely hasn’t scored two hat tricks in his last two games (six goals on eight shots). He’s definitely not coming into this evening’s game with six goals in his immediate review. That’s definitely not happening.
(That is happening, but please don’t tell Ian. I don’t think he can take it.)
Storylines
- Matt Niskanen (upper body), Brooks Orpik (lower body), and TJ Oshie (upper body) will all be out tonight. They’re all on a day-to-day basis, so hopefully it’s not so bad.
- Riley Barber made his debut on the big stage last night. Our Chris Gordon spoke with him after the game.
- This was a damn nifty shot by Tom Wilson.
- Wayne Gretzky likes the Caps. As per usual.
- Rod Langway was on a flight to Nashville with some fans.
- The two lines that scored last night were the ones unaffected by injury. La dee da.
- Here’s former Caps writer Adam Vingan on Forsberg’s consecu-hatties.
- Friday night was Hockey is For Everyone night at Verizon Center. (Though not so much in our Facebook comments.) It was wonderful.
- Finally, soon-to-be baby Oland got a special present last night.
Nashville
I bailed on ABC/CMT’s hourlong drama Nashville after the first season, though I hear some crazy stuff happened on last night’s episode. Are the comments a spoiler-free zone, or can we talk about Rayna?
