Caps vs Pens pregame: Rematch (Game One)

Well, well, well look what the cat dragged in. On Thursday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins are back in Washington, D.C. to face the Capitals in the second round of the playoffs. Again.

Between two fairly even teams, the Capitals are going to have a rough time keeping up with the speed of the Penguins while the Penguins are going to need to focus on their penalty kill. Who knows what the Capitals are going to look like tonight, but all I know is that I haven’t been able to sit still because I’m so nervous and I’ve been stress-eating Mike and Ikes all day.

Puck drop is at 7 :30 PM on NBCSN. Peter will help you recover with the recap.

The series is tied 0-0. Let’s dance.

Team	Record	SA%	PDO	Power Play	Penalty Kill
Washington Capitals	55-19-8	53.2%	102.7	23.1% (4th)	83.8% (7th)
Pittsburgh Penguins	50-21-11	50.7%	101.6	23.1% (3rd)	79.8% (20th)

Projected Lines

Keeping the same lineup as Game Six in Toronto. The Capitals are also waiting for Karl Alzner to get medical clearance before they use him on the ice again.

The good boys:

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie
Johansson – Kuznetsov – Williams
Burakovsky – Eller – Wilson
Winnik – Beagle – Connolly

Schmidt – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Shattenkirk

Holtby

The bad boys (badder than the last ones!) had an optional skate so this might change:

Guentzel – Crosby – Hornqvist
Rust – Malkin– Kessel
Wilson– Bonino– Sheary
Kunitz – Cullen– Kuhnhackl

Dumoulin – Hainsey
Maatta – Daley
Cole – Schultz

Fleury

St. Louis Blues

I don’t think that @LordDixick knows what a joke is.

This is also an excellent time to remind everyone that the Capitals and Penguins series is going to probably be a MESS. Please remember to be kind to each other and tease lightly. An example: Sidney Crosby enjoys sandwiches with nothing but mayonnaise on them.

Sizing Up the Penguins

How do the Capitals look when they’re up against the Penguins? We have some pretty nifty posts for you to check out.

Storylines

Caps fever is running rampant through Takoma Park Middle School.
Round two playoff predictions from Ian, Peter, and of course…pesky little Keith A. Coin.
RMNB was on NPR! RMNB! NPR! RMNPR!
Need your Joe B suit of the night fix? Well, take a stroll down memory lane and view every suit he wore this season. We already miss you, Joe.
Nazem Kadri talked about that flip over Alex Ovechkin and it was good. So is this:

Ovechkin dropped Kadri into the offseason pic.twitter.com/weDzQAdfmP

— Danny (@recordsANDradio) April 24, 2017

Playoff giveaways were announced for round two and there are no cowbells. That was awful, the cowbell schtick is awful, the game was awful, all of it was awful.
RMNB was also on ESPN 980 and Ian made an absolutely outrageous prediction, imo.
Remember that Brooks Orpik bodycheck on Roman Polak? Yeah, well…turns out Polak’s lower leg was broken after that hit.
When Karl Alzner finally gets healthy, will he be back in the lineup? Barry Trotz is making NO promises because maybe he is slowly gettin’ on the express to Nate town. It’s fun, we swear.
Speaking of Karl Alzner, he’s admitted that his offseason sports hernia surgery is still affecting him. Which makes us sad.
Caps goaltending prospect Ilya Samsonov was benched during the Gargain Cup playoffs. How did he react? Not great, Bob.
Nashville’s Kevin Fiala has a fractured femur and will be missing the rest of the playoffs.
Alex Ovechkin inspired a rap because why not.

Deadguins Gear

Need a good shirt? Want to trick people to think you’re a Pens fan but you’re actually not like this doggo tricked you into thinking he was a penguin?