I like to think that the headline photo captured Brett Connolly dancing. It’s Friday and we’ve got hockey, so let’s dance.

The first place Washington Capitals travel to Pittsburgh tonight to take on the third place Penguins. Seeing as these two teams don’t have much of a history and aren’t family with each other, this will be a good chance to get acquainted. For Caps fans, it’s a rare chance to get to watch players such as Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel, and Evgeni Malkin.

This tilt begins at 7 PM and will be on NBCSW. Christopher Cerullo will have the Friday night recap for you.

Record	28-21-3	30-15-5
Shot Attempt %	51.8%	48.7%
PDO	96.7	101.9
Power Play	26.7%	20.9%
Penalty Kill	82.2%	80.4%

Projected Lines

The Capitals had a sparsely attended morning skate today. It appears Vrana and Chorney are the scratches again. The safe bet is that the lines will stay the same.

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

Djoos – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Bowey

Holtby

Next question, Feel the Burn

An Edmonton reporter did a very silly thing yesterday. He basically had a Twitter tantrum over the fact that Al Montoya didn’t speak to the media on the day he was starting in goal. Not only was he throwing a tantrum about something silly, but his wording was poor and implied that Montoya was weak mentally. This was a little tone deaf considering Wednesday was #BellLetsTalk. We all have moments we wish we had handled differently and the reporter has since apologized, so my point isn’t to flame him.

My point is that after the game the reporter tried to ask Montoya a question and Montoya handled the situation exactly how he should have. Al Montoya for President.

Storylines

• The fine folks over at Japers’ Rink raised over $1,000 for charity last month. You can jump in and be part of the action for February.
• A concussion is not what caused TJ Oshie’s lack of production.
• Who will be a champion first, Alex Smith or Alex Ovechkin?
• Barry Trotz doesn’t think Vegas is a real expansion team, which is a curious thing to say since Nate Schmidt is their number one defender and Trotz thought he was a 7D last season.
• The Caps are breaking in some of their stadium series gear.
• John Carlson is going to get paid this summer.
• What a possible Mike Green trade could look like.
• Lars Eller and Brett Connolly have rediscovered that magic from last season.

Follow the Buzzards. To Walmart, apparently

Someone’s mom was in Walmart trying to find WWE action figures. She just so happened to, unknowingly, ask WWE wrestler Bray Wyatt if he knew anything about wrestling, presumably so he could help her pick out an action figure. “That’s me,” Wyatt said, reaching for his own action figure.  Life is weird, man

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Penguins

Headline image: Cara Bahniuk