The Washington Capitals open up 2019 with a trip to the Show-Me State to take on the current league worst, St. Louis Blues. The Caps will enter into the new year with a new lineup that looks very much like an old lineup from around last June.
It’s a central standard time puck drop so things will kick off at 8 PM tonight. You can still catch all of your pre and post game coverage on NBCSWA, starting an hour before the game starts, with their streaming service. I will have your recap tonight!
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|---|---|---|
| Record | 15-18-4 | 24-11-3 |
| Shot Attempt % | 48.6% | 49.5% |
| PDO | 98.5 | 103.3 |
| Power Play | 20.4% (16th) | 23.3% (9th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.7% (18th) | 77.0% (24th) |
Projected Lines
A return for some familiar Cup winning lines and Matt Niskanen. Isabelle has the rest of tonight’s projected lineup:
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Backstrom – Oshie
Burakovsky – Eller – Connolly
Stephenson – Dowd – Jaskin
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Bowey
Holtby
Jack Eichel
Hello, I’m exhausted just reading Jack Eichel’s pregame routine.
Seriously, I was not expecting THIS detailed of an answer when I asked Jack Eichel for his gameday routine: pic.twitter.com/sK5K1PqqaD
— Alex Prewitt (@alex_prewitt) December 31, 2018
Storylines
- Matt Niskanen and Dmitrij Jaskin both return to the lineup tonight and this will be Jaskin’s first go at the team who waived him prior to this season.
- Check out Caps fan, Eddie Dalton unleashing our Deadguins shirt on some real life penguins in Antarctica. It’s a shame I hate the Pittsburgh Penguins because regular penguins are really cool.
- Peter Hassett is in fine form (when is he not though) in another installment of New Year’s wishes for the Caps roster.
- Ian’s top 2018 memories!
- Alexander Alexeyev or as we like to call him ‘Alex Alex’ scored a sick goal against Slovakia in the World Junior Classic quarterfinals round.
- In NHL all star related news, Ovi is going to take the one game suspension and sit the festivities out, Nicky needs your votes to get there, and Holts and Carly will for sure be there.
- In AHL all star related news, Caps goaltending prospect Vitek Vanecek will be the Hershey Bears representative at this year’s game. Goalie pipeline is still flowing.
- Nathan Walker modeled a sick Star Wars themed Hershey Bears jersey for their Star Wars night against the Milwaukee Admirals.
- Lastly and most importantly, please consider helping out a fellow Caps fan who was shot in in the head as an innocent bystander in Northwest DC.
Resolutions
Elyse gave you her 2019 New Year’s resolutions in the last pregame, so I’ve decided to do what I do best and copy Elyse.
- Lets get the boring one out of the way. Get in shape. You all know the drill. This includes drinking more water.
- Write a morning numbers post for every game this season. This is my gimme, easy one.
- Go back to Canada. I went to Toronto in 2017 and it’s my favorite city in the world not named Washington, DC.
- Recycle more. I already recycle, but I want to make other people recycle. Feel me?
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Blues
Headline photo: Scott Rovak
