The Washington Capitals have lost four games in a row, losing first place in the Metro division standings in the process. Luckily, the gods of the schedule have bestowed a blessing on the team: a date against the Chicago Blackhawks, who are inexplicably the worst team in the league. The Caps need to exploit this opportunity.
It’s a national broadcast on NBC starting shortly after 12:30 PM. If you’re at brunch you can stream the game via the My Teams app. Elyse has the privilege of recapping what will surely be a win please please we need this.
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 |
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|---|---|---|
| Record | 16-24-9 | 27-15-5 |
| Shot Attempt % | 48.0% | 48.8% |
| PDO | 99.5 | 102.3 |
| Power Play | 18.9% (17th) | 21.3% (11th) |
| Penalty Kill | 73.4% (31st) | 78.4% (23rd) |
Projected Lines
Major changes in the top nine as of Saturday’s practice:
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Oshie
Vrana – Eller – Wilson
Burakovsky – Kuznetsov – Connolly
Stephenson – Dowd – DSP
Orlov – Carlson
Kempny – Niskanen
Orpik – Siegenthaler
Holtby
Update, 12:15 PM: Nope.
Caps vs. Blackhawks:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Eller-Wilson
Jaskin-Kuznetsov-Connolly
Burakovsky-Boyd-DSPOrlov-Carlson
Kempny-Niskanen
Orpik-BoweyHoltby
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 20, 2019
The Schedule to Come
The Caps may regret blowing their last four games. After today’s (relative) layup, the Caps face San Jose and Toronto in back-to-back games plus travel. Those are two scary 100-point teams. The all-star break and bye week follow, so a couple wins in a row sure would be a good note to go out on.
Storylines
- Evgeny Kuznetsov has been demoted to the third line, where he and Andre Burakovsky might surprise people. Kuznetsov has a good attitude about the switch.
- The Caps now trail the Islanders in the standings.
- Christian Djoos keeps improving.
- This is now a David Rittich fansite.
- Concussion for Tuukka Rask.
- Don Cherry does not like birdman. (No mention of CBJ and VGK players who have also done Kuznetsov’s celebration.)
Offense Rates
Using data from Natural Stat Trick, here are individual shot rates (per hour) for Caps forwards during 5-on-5 play. They are color-coded based on all NHL forwards with 200 minutes played.
The only forward in the league who shoots less than Chandler Stephenson is LA’s Nate Thompson, who I believe may actually just be a bunch of bats in a trashbag with a Kings logo on it.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Blackhawks
Headline photo: Patrick McDermott
