The Caps return to playoff action tonight in DC, trying to even up their first round series with the Blue Jackets. The bad news for the Caps is they’ll have to do this short-handed, as they’ll be without Jake Vrana and Christian Djoos, arguably their fifth best forward and fourth best defenseman this season. Both will be on nacho duty because head coach Barry Trotz has elected to make them healthy scratches. Interesting.

Jay Beagle will return and Michal Kempny is good to go after his injury in Game One.

Puck drop tonight is at 7:30 PM and will be carried locally on NBCSW.

Record	45-30-7	49-26-7
Shot Attempt %	51.7%	48.3%
PDO	100.3	101.7
Power Play	17.2%	22.5%
Penalty Kill	76.2%	80.3%

Projected Lines

Isabelle reports that the lines will change tonight. These lines involve some absolutely terrible, inexcusable coaching decisions and player evaluation.

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

Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Jerabek

Grubauer

I won’t complain about the lines here

This is where I could enter some numbers and analysis to support my case that today’s lineup involves two terrible coaching decisions. But Aristotle told us that happiness depends on ourselves, so let us not focus on that unhappy topic any longer and instead direct our focus towards happier pursuits.

What’s everyone read so far this year? I’ve hit a lull with my reading over the last month or so, but so far this year I’ve read:

Behind the Bench: A great look inside the minds of some great hockey coaches. An easy, fun, and quick read for any hockey fan.

Thinking Fast and Slow: A really interesting read on how humans think. It is a bit dense at time, and seemed to drag at the end, but I’d highly recommend it to anyone interested in the mind, our judgments, biases, and so on.

It Can’t Happen Here: Some would call this a topical read. It started slow but was really good after the first 100 pages or so.

Darkest Hour: This came out to accompany the movie. I’m still working my way through it, but so far, so good.

Storylines

• Maybe you haven’t heard but the Caps have new lines tonight.
• If you’re going to the game tonight, prepare yourself for some towel waving.
• We are only one game in, but it’s already been a physical series.
• Alex Semin was caught driving like a jerk.
• The Penguins lost.
• Patrik Laine dared to have fun while playing a game.

Happy Rusev Day

Rusev was removed from a match against The Undertaker and then scrubbed all connections to WWE on his social media. But all signs point to this being part of a storyline, not Rusev possible separating from the company. Hopefully the WWE decides to push one of their more underutilized stars out of all this. I’m not so much bothered that he got pulled from the match as I am that WWE had the nerve to announce the news on Rusev Day.

Happy Rusev Day to each and every one of you.

Full Coverage of Game Two

Headline image: Cara Bahniuk