The Washington Capitals are hosting the Edmonton Oilers this evening at Capital One Arena. The theme of tonight is the number three. The Oilers hope to win their third straight against the Capitals this evening while the Capitals are hoping to not extend their losing streak to three. So far, the Oilers have won five straight on the road. But, every streak needs to be broken whether it’s how many days in a row that I’ve order Seamless or it’s the Oilers’ away streak.
Puck drop will take place at 7 PM on NBC Sports Washington. You can stream all the sweet, sweet action beginning at 6 PM. I’ll be conducting my first recap of the season. Cut me some slack.
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|---|---|---|
| Record | 8-4-1 | 5-4-3 |
| Shot Attempt % | 49.7% (16th) | 49.8% (15th) |
| PDO | 100.3 | 100.4 |
| Power Play | 21.7 (14th) | 35.9% (1st) |
| Penalty Kill | 73.2 (26th) | 75.0% (25th) |
Projected Lines
Changes have definitely been made. Thanks, as always, to Izzy at the Washington Post for staying on top of this.
*to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire”: Dmitrij Jaskin has moved up to the top line, Jakub Vrana has been bumped down, Phoenix Copley will be making an appearance, Travis Boyd replaced Dowd, and Brooks Orpik is still not practicing:
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Jaskin
Stephenson – Backstrom – Oshie
Burakovsky – Eller – Connolly
Vrana – Boyd – DSP
Orlov – Niskanen
Kempny – Carlson
Djoos – Bowey
Copley
Edmonton Bonding
I guess that’s one way to bond with your team? At least the weather was nice?
Also, the Edmonton Oilers all went to the Redskins game yesterday. Team activity.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 5, 2018
Storylines
- Personally, I always feel like celebrating Nick Backstrom, but there will be an official pregame ceremony honoring him on Nov. 7th for reaching his 600th assist milestone!
- Aaron Ness was reassigned to the Hershey Bears.
- Now you can walk around with the likes of TJ Oshie on your feet! Finally!
- The NHL officially partnered with FanDuel for betting and fantasy opportunities.
- Peter wrote something yesterday about Slava Voynov that should be read by everyone. This has been a particularly awful subject for some of us to hear and Pete did a wonderful job.
- The LA Kings? Yeah, things could be better.
- Braden Holtby‘s reaction last game encompassed every single feeling the rest of us had too.
- Need a quick refresher on what happened last game? Chris has you covered with the morning after numbers.
- The members of the Washington Capitals were asked to draw the Weagle. Now, I am not an artist. I can barely draw a stick figure, but I genuinely believe I could’ve done a better job.
- We were walkin’ on waivers since Nathan Walker was indeed placed on them yesterday. Today, he cleared them and will now be heading to Hershey.
- We have a new tee shirt which you can use a shiny, new 18% off code on. Spoiler alert: it has to do with Christian Djoos.
Alex Chaisson
One of the players to watch this evening is ex Capital, Alex Chaisson. Chaisson has now scored six goals in the first eight games of his time with the Edmonton Oilers. To put that in perspective, he scored nine goals in 61 games last season. He is currently shooting at 46 percent. While you might have an inclination to automatically think, “what the heck I hate this guy now” I implore you to read about his friendship with Ovechkin:
Chiasson on friendship w/ Ovechkin: “I think he actually really worked with me on my game, little things. He cared for how I was playing. It’s special to me to have a guy like him with 600-plus goals trying to help me out to create offense and little things with my equipment.”
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 5, 2018
Can’t remember if I’ve told this story before, but when I was with Ovechkin for his Cup day in Moscow, Ovechkin turned to me at one point and asked, “Chaser sign somewhere yet?”
That was July. Chiasson joined Edmonton on a PTO much later. And is now lighting the world on fire.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 5, 2018
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Oilers
Headline photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images North America
