Your Washington Capitals have headed west to the Golden State, otherwise known as the land of Brooks Laich, for three games against Californian opponents. The first of those three opponents is the Anaheim Ducks who currently sit third in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division, but are in no way in the clear to make the playoffs so gaining every possible point is paramount.

Oh, and some guy is very close to a big ole milestone.

It’s a late, late, late one. 10 PM start on both NBCSWA and NBCSN. Peter will have your #RMNBAfterDark recap.

Record	33-21-12	37-21-7
Shot Attempt %	48.9%	47.9%
PDO	100.7	101.9
Power Play	17.9%	22.5%
Penalty Kill	82.9%	79.8%

Projected Lines

Your lines by way of Isabelle:

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

Orlov – Niskanen
Kempny – Carlson
Orpik – Djoos

Holtby

Simple math

pic.twitter.com/67FeByGAZ8

— Flintor (@TheFlintor) March 6, 2018

Storylines

• The Caps are now celebrating their player distributed, player of the game awards by giving each other a strange alien, rave, motocross, space hybrid helmet.
• Check out this really sweet proposal that happened last weekend at the Stadium Series game.
• Some pregame quotes from the man himself and his bff line mate about that big round number milestone.
• Caps goaltending prospect, Ilya Samsonov is rolling along in the KHL playoffs.
• Canucks young gun, Brock Boeser appears to have suffered a very serious injury after checked into an open bench door. UPDATE: Fractured back, out four to six weeks.
• Nicklas Backstrom used to pick up William Nylander from school when the latter’s father was playing on the Capitals and the family lived in the DC area.
• Alex Ovechkin wants every playoff game in the NHL to be played outside because the Caps have never lost outside. He has a good point, book it Gary.
• Both John Carlson and Ovi break things that aren’t normally broken.
• In Annapolis, TJ Oshie and Olmypic Gold medalist Gigi Marvin recreated their epic homecoming photo from 13 years ago.
• Both Carlson and Oshie take special pride in victory over Leafs in Stadium Series match up.

Players’ Tribune love

I’ve never been comfortable sharing much about myself. I thought about mental health as someone else’s problem. I’ve realized I need to change that. https://t.co/355HcQw3Ei

— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) March 6, 2018

A really great article by Cleveland Cavs forward Kevin Love on his mental health and finding a way to talk openly about it. I personally find it very uplifting to see guys like Love and DeMar DeRozan open up about their struggles with anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc. Everyone is fighting something.

Full Coverage of Caps at Ducks

Featured Image: Brooks Laich