Caps at Islanders pregame: Friday Night Fight

October 4, 2019 4:20 pm

The Capitals are still on the road, but this time it’s in New York. They’ll be facing off against the Islanders this evening before they head home and finally play in front of the Capital One Arena faithful. Reminder to everyone, it’s ON Long Island. Not IN Long Island. I think.

The boys are back on the east coast, so puck drop will be at the sweet 7PM EST spot. You can catch all the action on NBC Sports Washington and Christopher from the comments will have his first regular season recap this year. Expect some wrestling puns.


Record	0-0-0	1-0-0
Shot Attempt %	00.0%	58.6%
PDO	0	98.6
Power Play	00.0% (0th)	33.3%
Penalty Kill	00.0% (0th)	50.0%

Projected Lines

Thing are looking pretty familiar when compared to the last game, except for one big change. Ilya Samsonov will be making his NHL debut in the goalie slot! Thanks to Izzy from the Washington Post:

Ovechkin – Backstrom – Wilson
Vrana – Eller – Oshie
Hagelin – Stephenson – Panik
Leipsic – Dowd – Hathaway

Siegenthaler – Carlson
Orlov – Jensen
Fehervary – Gudas

Samsonov

The Dallas Stars didn’t get the W

The Dallas Stars played the Boston Bruins last night and lost 2-1. The guest of the evening in Dallas was President George W. Bush (which felt weird, I anticipated a country music star like Nashville does but sure whatever). The only thing I wanted to note was that the jokes about the Stars not getting a “W” were out of control.

The only W the Stars are getting tonight pic.twitter.com/UH4SY3tmuq

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 4, 2019

Storylines

Jakub Vrana scored his first career OTGWG during the last game. His quotes after the game? I was very emotional.
Coach Todd gave a little bit more insight into the goalie situation.
The Carolina Hurricanes have brought back the Storm Surge for this season! Thank the lord, it’s too much fun and I would’ve been sad if they retired it.
There is this cute video of Alex Ovechkin and Nick Backstrom on a bike together and so help me if someone doesn’t get Ovi a helmet…
Rent is gettin’ high and some popular spots around Capital One Arena are starting to shut down, like the local watering hole Iron Horse, where we hosted RMNB Party X.
Lars Eller is voicing his support for the first out gay Danish pro hockey player.
If you missed the last game, don’t worry! We have the morning after numbers for you to catch up on and a recap to check out.
In case you didn’t know, Carey Price has an incredibly cute kid and she decided it would be best to climb in her dad’s suitcase for his trip. I mean, she could be his big good luck charm this season!
Pheonix Copley officially cleared waivers and has now been loaned to Hershey.
Martin Fehérváry got the hard hat after the Capitals won in OT against the Blues. Alex Ovechkin passed it his way after making his NHL debut. Fehérváry is 19 years old and the fact that Ovechkin sees and recognizes how special his milestone is? Does anyone have a tissue they can pass my way?
Alex Ovechkin blacked out when he first held the Stanley Cup. I also blacked out during that moment.

Lias Andersson, more like ‘Lie-on-the-ground Andersson’

I know, it was a stretch. Every year when teams bring out their roster one by one during their home opener, I get so nervous that I’m going to have secondhand embarrassment watching a player fall on his face. Guess what? It happened! Lias Andersson tripped over a wire on the ice during the Rangers preseason player introductions on Thursday night.

Man oh, man. You gotta feel for Lias Andersson. Struggles in Year 1 and trips over the wire to begin Year 2.

A sign that he’s ready to dominate? Perhaps. #NYR pic.twitter.com/zWO084z2sv

— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) October 3, 2019