The elation from the Washington Capitals round two win over the Pittsburgh Penguins is gone. This team wants more and to get more they need to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals. Game One in Tampa, start this series off with a bang, boys.
Fantastic tweet Pete will have your recap. Puck drop is at 8PM and you can check this game out on NBCSN, CBC, SN, and TVA Sports.
The final regular season stats:
| Record | 54-23-5 | 49-26-7 |
| Shot Attempt % | 52.3% | 48.3% |
| PDO | 102.1 | 101.4 |
| Power Play | 23.9% | 22.5% |
| Penalty Kill | 76.1% | 80.3% |
Projected Lines
Andre Burakovsky is most likely back in the lineup, while his Swedish elder Nicklas Backstrom is doubtful and a game-time decision. I would not expect #19 to suit up tonight. Lines from Tarik:
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Eller – Oshie
Burakovsky – Stephenson – Connolly
DSP – Beagle -Chiasson
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Djoos
Holtby
Get yourself some sweet swag
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— RMNB (@russianmachine) May 11, 2018
Some “expert” opinions
I don't know who "Crawford" is, but welcome to the resistance… pic.twitter.com/AQsTVlM34b
— Japers' Rink (@JapersRink) May 11, 2018
Storylines
- Keith, a coin, Peter, and Ian give you the only true predictions that matter for this round.
- Alex Ovechkin sure looked pumped up and ready to go at today’s morning skate.
- The Capitals have come out with some cool t-shirt designs for your third round needs. We’ve also recently put out a bunch of new shirt designs in our store, check them out.
- AJ Mleczko became the first woman to call an NHL playoff game.
- Individual Eastern Conference final tickets go on sale tonight at 8pm. Get to clicking.
- Caps head coach Barry Trotz wants us all to make sure we hydrate during this third round series. I’m in agreement, water is great.
- Capitals legend Peter Bondra has a son named David and David just scored his first career World Championship goal for Team Slovakia.
- If you think Tom Wilson is a pretty handsome fellow, Alex Ovechkin agrees with you.
Reminder of some bad times before some hopefully good times
The last time the Caps were in Tampa Bay for a playoff series, Michal Neuvirth decided to lose the whole thing by himself. Luckily, he is not playing in this series, it’s time to exorcise some more demons.
Headline photo: Scott Audette
