The late-night games are officially done for the year, as the Caps wrap up their west coast trip with an afternooner today with the Sharks in San Jose. The Caps need a W today to avoid going winless on the week.

Puck drops at 4:00 PM. Donya will make her recap debut so be nice.

Record	36-22-9	37-23-7
Shot Attempt %	49.7%	48.0%
PDO	100.7	101.9
Power Play	21.1%	21.8%
Penalty Kill	84.7%	79.5%

Projected Lines

Tom Wilson missed practice, so this projection is more project-y than usual. Based on yesterday as reported by Isabelle, let’s make some educated guesses.

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

Orlov – Niskanen
Kempny – Carlson
Orpik – Jerabek

Grubauer

Hundo Point Pace

Per hockeyviz, no team in the once-awesome Metropolitan is headed for north of 100 points. The Caps are still virtual locks for the ‘loffs, but it’s tighter now. No one is really soaring here.

Storylines

• Tom Wilson got hit by a puck on Thursday. He is expected to play today.
• Philipp Grubauer will probably get the start today. Barry Trotz has explained the reason for the reset.
• WaPo has confirmed the Brian MacLellan extension. I’ll have more on this story this weekend.
• Frozen cheeks. I’m not explaining it.
• Why Hilary Knight wasn’t at the Stadium Series game.
• I wanted to do an escape room for our RMNB Patron party last summer. Maybe this year.

The Crown, Season 2

I respectfully disagreed with Elyse when she volunteered The Crown as one of the best series of 2017, but now that I’m catching bits of season two as Dr. Girlfriend watches, I see what Elyse was saying. Season one had super-thin characters; it just felt shallow to me despite all the pretty visuals. But in season two, the show has really zeroed in the internal struggles of the characters, especially Claire Foy. As Elizabeth, she’s got to show at least two or three layers of emotion in a lots of scenes. It’s terrifically compelling. And while I don’t read the show as anything like History, I admire how directly the show addressed the role of the abdicated King Edward in World War II. That’s a punch in the face, and the show doesn’t pull it one bit.

But I think they should snuggle the good dogs more. People ignore the dogs. It’s not right.

Anyway, Elyse was right. Don’t tell her I said so.

Full Coverage of Caps at Sharks

Headline photo: Andrew D. Bernstein