Caps at Red Wings pregame: Against Banana’s dad

The Caps wrap up the month of November this evening with a sludge game in Detroit. Both teams played yesterday, so this might be an interesting one. And by interesting I really just mean ugly.

Puck drop is at 7 PM, and your boy Chris has recap duty.

Record	7-18-3	18-4-5
Shot Attempt %	47.0%	50.6%
PDO	96.3	100.7
Power Play	13.1% (28th)	25.0% (5th)
Penalty Kill	72.4% (31st)	83.3% (12th)

Projected Lines

The Caps had no morning skate today. We know Samsonov is in net, but the lines are a bit of a guess. Let’s say Backstrom is still out. I have no idea.

Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Eller – Oshie
Panik – Stephenson – Boyd
Leipsic – Dowd – Hathaway

Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Jensen
Siegenthaler – Gudas

Samsonov

Big Shoots

Here’s every Caps game in which a player put nine or more shots on net since the Ovechkin era began. Non-Ovi games are bold.

Welcome to the club, Jake.

Storylines

• Dmitry Orlov is your OTGWG hero.
• Meanwhile, Jake’s goal last night was a bit mysterious.
• Great to see Pat Sajak up and about again.
• The Flames and Bill Peters have, um, parted ways.
• Latta forever.
• Matt Niskanen had a monster game on Friday. Fifteen stitches and two assists.
• This isn’t a story, but I just want to put a picture of Mike Green‘s cat, Banana, in here.

Photo: @cparrie

Peter’s Favorite Reissue of 2019

Usually in December we use the pregame to list some of our favorite stuff of the year. I thought I’d get use started a bit early with Dead Man’s Pop, a sort of reissue of The Replacements’ 1989 album, Don’t Tell a Soul. It’s great.

I’d say the Mats are probably my favorite band of all-time. They were a stupid rock band that would often get blind drunk and play sloppy covers until they self-destructed, but they were also a sensitive, sometimes even delicate group of writers and musicians who put insight into their music that was uncommon for that era — or any era.

A lot of second- and third-wave emo bands cite The Replacements as influences, but I don’t think any of them come close to the Mats. They were so sophisticated that they had to offset it with crudeness, and they were so boorish that they had to inject their music with dignity.

Full RMNB Coverage of Caps vs Red Wings