The Caps won a close one against a profoundly bad hockey team in Detroit last night. Tonight they’ll face a way better team, but one that’s still struggling out of the gate with just two wins in six games. A decisive win over the Florida Panthers would go a long way towards convincing us that the Caps will not be suck this year.

Game’s at 7:30 PM on NBCSNDCWTFBBQ if you’re not attending in person. Your bedtime boys (i.e. your boys with bedtimes), Pat and Peter, will be doing your recap and highlights and then it’s straight to bed.

Record	2-4-0	4-3-1
Shot Attempt %	54.5%	47.6%
PDO	99.6	102.9
Power Play	15.4%	28.6%
Penalty Kill	68.0%	78.8%

Projected Lines

The Caps had an optional skate today, so we don’t really know what the lines will be tonight. Here’s how they lined up last night, except with probably Grubi in net.

Wilson – Backstrom – Oshie
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Vrana
Connolly – Eller – Burakovsky
DSP – Beagle – Chiasson

Djoos – Carlson
Orpik – Bowey
Orlov – Chorney

Grubauer

Ovechkin Naming Conventions

Last night, Chris Cerullo called Ovi Ovie.

OVIE WINS IT

— RMNB (@russianmachine) October 21, 2017

This is incorrect. Ovi is Ovi.

Ovie is a bulldog. Ove is Rolf Lassgård. Ovi is Ovi.

We know this because it’s Ovi’s twitter account.

hahaha!! thx 4 one the best day of yer )))) #TweetlikeOviDay pic.twitter.com/vmyUgRYQ2W

— Alex Ovechkin (@ovi8) August 8, 2017

Even if the labels on his sticks disagree, Ovi is four times more common than Ovie. No one calls him Ovy except for Justin Bourne, and don’t even get me started on him.

Ovi.

Storylines

• Late-game heroics from Oshie and Ovi got the win last night. CFTC has your recap and morning numbers.
• Andre Burakovsky finally got on the board. Yay for Dre.
• TJ Oshie had his first career improvisational dentistry event last night.
• And Kuzy was jokes.
• Pat’s fam is doing a good good raffle for Parkinson’s research. Please check it out.
• Matt Niskanen is recovering.

Matt Niskanen (upper body) on the ice skating on his own (full gear, no stick) prior to Capitals optional morning skate at Kettler.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 21, 2017

• Nants ingonyama bagithi baba. Sithi uhhmm ingonyama.
• Someone named Adam who plays professional baseball was at practice yesterday. Cara can tell you more.
• It’s a Peel game.

Tim Peel & Kelly Sutherland are your zebras for Caps-Cats at 7:30 from DC.

— Ed Frankovic (@EdFrankovic) October 21, 2017

Halloween Movie Reviews

I am buckwild for horror movies. Let’s discuss some I’ve seen recently and some all-time classics.

• Monster Squad (1987). The whole “dark universe” thing for the universal monsters should just have been turning this special little movie into a franchise. This is a classic.
• The Belko Experiment (2016). James Gunn wrote this before he blew up with Guardians of the Galaxy (I’ve been a fan since the Troma days tho, how bout that indie cred?). This is a perfect Gunn script: somehow light and unbearably oppressing at the same time, with a bleak truth at its core.
• Little Evil (2017). I loved Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil, but this Netflix followup from Eli Craig didn’t do much for me.
• Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992). Aileen has always loved this movie, but I didn’t get it until rewatching this month. Aside from Keanu’s brutal English accent, the film is sumptuous and indulgent. The art direction (featuring comics pros Mike Mignola and Jim Steranko) is gorgeous, and Gary Oldman might have the best role of his career. Up there with Christopher Lee’s turn at the role.
• The Burbs (1989). Someone give Joe Dante a lot of money to make more movies. For a decade from the late 80s to the late 90s, Dante mad tone-perfect movies. A lot of them were divisive upon release (Gremlins 2: The New Batch for example) but have become beloved in hindsight. Adding Tom Hanks to the mix puts The Burbs over the top. The final act is perfect.
• Day of the Dead (1985). This is a documentary now.

I still want to see (or re-watch) this month: Scanners, High Tension, Don’t Breathe,

Full Coverage of Caps vs Panthers

Headline photo: Dave Reginek