The Washington Capitals will play their 69th game of the season tonight. There were 68 games before this one, so this one is number 69. That’s one less than 70. It’s 69. The other team is the Jets. 69.
The 69th game begins at 7 PM. Streamed the niceness using the My Teams app, and delight in the recapitulatory wonders of Chris Cerullo here on RMNB. 69.
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 40-23-4 | 40-21-7 |
| Shot Attempt % | 49.4% | 48.8% |
| PDO | 100.7 | 102.0 |
| Power Play | 25.7% (4th) | 22.0% (9th) |
| Penalty Kill | 78.6% (24th) | 79.2% (22nd) |
Projected Lines
The Capitals have won six games in a row. As if they’d make a change, except for the goalie.
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Backstrom – Oshie
Hagelin – Eller – Connolly
Burakovsky – Dowd – Boyd
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Jensen
Copley
Peter’s Esports Corner
My Los Angeles Valiant went 0-7 in the first stage of Overwatch League season two. (The only other team without a win is Washington Justice, who look even worse.) Valiant’s play and macro decisions have been really concerning. Here are two screenshots from a recent team video.
Via / LA Valiant’s YouTube
The team benched their playcalling main-support player, Scott “Custa” Kennedy, because he was… too good at the current strategic climate of the game. In his place they’re playing Kuki, who is not usually a support player at all. The team’s ability usage and pre-fight reads have been roundly unsuccessful — maybe even getting worse over the course of the season’s first month. That’s weird.
It kinda feels like the team is hoping that the game will change so they don’t have to. With a whole lot of new balance changes pending before the second stage of the season begins, they might get their wish.
Storylines
- Alex Ovechkin has 1199 points.
- Brooks Orpik has been playing well this season, which invites this question: how?
- Hagelining.
- Justin Williams is out of control.
- On the farm: AJF is getting his flow back, Alex^2 got hurt, and Riley Barber is scoring.
- Right on, JT Brown.
- Andre Burakovsky’s secret stuff.
The Next Ten Days
Washington’s opponents between now and March 20 should seem familiar:
- Pittsburgh Penguins
- Philadelphia Flyers
- Tampa Bay Lightning
- New Jersey Devils
- Tampa Bay Lightning
They’re all eastern conference teams, with all of them except Tampa within the Metro division. The Pittsburgh game right now feels like it could be a preview of the first round of the playoffs. When I looked at the schedule during the preseason, I considered this the toughest stretch of the season. The Devils and Flyers have fallen off a lot since then, but the Lightning are maybe even more fearsome. Speaking of:
it is better to make the playoffs than to not make the playoffs but it's not much better to make the playoffs than not if you gotta play Tampa in the first round pic.twitter.com/WlEM8WYGbx
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) March 10, 2019
With the Blue Jackets barely holding onto a second wild card spot, they’re primed to face those Lightning. That’ll make it hard for the all-in team to win their first ever playoff round. Wuh oh.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Jets
Headline image: Patrick McDermott
