If the Capitals can eke out a win tonight at PPG Paints Arena, they will win a playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time since 1994 and advance to the third round of the playoffs for the first time since 1998. (If they don’t, they can try again on Wednesday.)
Puck drop is at 7:00 PM, so let’s all mute NBCSN together and watch it silently. Peter will provide your recap.
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
Per Isabelle, these are the morning skate lines without Backstrom, but he’s expected to play so these might change during warmups:
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Stephenson
Vrana – Eller – Oshie
Connolly – Boyd – Smith-Pelly
Walker – Beagle – Chiasson
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Djoos
Holtby
DC sports Twitter is in a mood
Feeling ambivalent about what a second-round playoff series victory means for the Caps and the larger DC sports landscape? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
Since going to the Finals in 1998, the Caps have had six chances to advance to the third round (NYR x4, PIT x2, all Ovi Era). As you know, they're 0-6 and have been outscored 18-8. They've held 1-0 leads in two of those games, their only leads. Let's, uh, change that, fellas.
— japersrink.bsky.social (@JapersRink) May 7, 2018
Ok, help with an office debate. If the Caps win tonight (if if if if if), it would be the biggest win in D.C. sports since —–?
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) May 7, 2018
NBC with the reminder about DC's record when one game away from the final four at intermission of Boston-Tampa game. pic.twitter.com/yId8MkfynM
— Eric Fingerhut (@ericfingerhut) May 6, 2018
And don’t forget, beating the Penguins would be like beating the Blooper Bowser in Super Mario Bros. Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!
Storylines
- Nick Backstrom is expected to play despite leaving Game Five early.
- The Bolts beat the Bruins in five games, so they’ll face whoever wins this series.
- Jake Guentzel did not face supplemental disciple for his high, dangerous, borderline “headshot” on John Carlson because it was not a high, dangerous, borderline “headshot” after all.
- It was pandemonium outside Capital One Center on Saturday.
- Sidney Crosby might be a Caps fan. Maybe.
- Alex Ovechkin is the energizer bunny!!
- How about Jakub Vrana, y’all?
This is America
Everyone’s talking about it. Might as well embed it here.
