Half past eight on a pleasant Saturday morning, Jay Beagle walked up to the glass entrance at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. Beagle waited at the threshold as a grade schooler in an oversized 83 jersey ran across the parking lot to greet him.
“Have a nice day, Beags.”
“I always do!”
There’s a second heart-warming anecdote, on top of the Carlsons welcoming their second son into the world, to get you through the afternoon.
In a couple hours, the Capitals will play a very important game against the winners of back-to-back Stanley Cups, the Pittsburgh Penguins.
This second round Eastern Conference series is a best-of-three now. Settle down and pass me some red wine. The puck drops 25 minutes past 7 PM. The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) will be televising the game coast-to-coast.
The final regular season stats:
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 47-29-6 | 49-26-7 |
| Shot Attempt % | 52.3% | 48.3% |
| PDO | 98.5 | 101.4 |
| Power Play | 26.2% | 22.5% |
| Penalty Kill | 80.0% | 80.3% |
Projected Lines
Ovechkin -Kuznetsov – Smith-Pelly
Stephenson – Backstrom – Oshie
Connolly – Eller – Vrana
Gersich – Beagle – Chiasson
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Djoos
Holtby
Storylines
- Bad news first: the lines. Especially the “Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Smith-Pelly” part. Sans Tom Wilson, the Capitals first line was awful in Game Four. The Capitals know this. The players know this. The numbers that watch the game for me know this. My eyeballs that ignore all the numbers know this.
- Over/Under on how long that trio sticks together is set at 10 minutes. Place your bets now in the comments.
- Alex Ovechkin had zero shots on goal on Thursday. Barry Trotz explains: “There’s not too many times that he doesn’t get shots on net. I think a couple times he tried the extra move. The most dangerous thing with Alex is his shot, so put your shot in play and then go from there.”
- Gina and John Carlson welcomed their second child, a boy, last night. Let’s hope John got a nap at some point.
- The Capitals are giving away rally towels for Game Five. This time, they made a hockey player out of them.
- Andre Burkovsky took the ice Friday for the first time since undergoing “minor” surgery somewhere in his upper regions. I didn’t see him skate today, though he was walking around behind the Capitals benches during the morning skate. He’s still a long way off from playing. You move your feet to skate, not your upper-body.
- Another Caps baby alert: one of the team’s top prospects, goaltender Ilya Samsonov, is heading to North America and the AHL next year. The Caps announced the young Russian signed a three-year entry-level deal on Friday. Deets here.
- Brad Marchand. There. I mentioned him. Moving on.
- Actually, I’m out of bullets. Let’s party tonight.
Headline Photo: Kirk Irwin
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