The Washington Capitals open up post holiday activities with a home match against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Yes, those same Blue Jackets that have beat the league leading Caps twice already by a combined score of 8-2.
Puck drop is at 7PM and I will be taking the reins of the ole recap mobile once more.
![]() |
![]() |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 17-14-6 | 26-7-5 |
| Shot Attempt % | 50.5% | 52.1% |
| PDO | 98.9 | 100.8 |
| Power Play | 17.7% (20th) | 20.9% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 81.0% (15th) | 84.9% (2nd) |
Projected Lines
Thanks to Samantha Pell at the Washington Post for your lineup. Goaltending change and a bunch of dudes are sick so we have a couple game time decisions.
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Wilson
Vrana – Kuznetsov – Oshie
Hagelin – Eller – Panik
Leipsic – Dowd – Hathaway
? – Carlson
Orlov – Jensen
Siegenthaler – Djoos
Samsonov
Just because I can
The moment the @Capitals became Stanley Cup Champions and forever left their mark on this decade, and hockey history. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/b02QsCUIPA
— NHL on NBC (@NHLonNBCSports) December 27, 2019
Storylines
- Anna Kendrick responds to Islanders’ Anthony Beauvillier after he shoots his shot on Twitter.
- Columbus has dominated the Capitals this season so Todd Reirden is starting Ilya Samsonov to ‘to give them a different look’.
- Ted Leonsis nominates an overhead shot of Braden Holtby’s ‘The Save’ as the best sports photo of the decade.
- Michal Kempny and Radko Gudas are sick so Christian Djoos has been called up from the Hershey Bears.
- Caps 2019 first round pick and OHL scoring phenom, Connor McMichael scored Canada’s first goal of this year’s World Junior Championship.
- Trying to get down with some mid season international hockey featuring that same McMichael? Here is the live TV schedule to watch the 2020 World Junior Championship.
- Alex Ovechkin shared a drink with current unrestricted free agent, winger Ilya Kovalchuk on Christmas day. What if…nah he’s v bad now.
- Merry Christmas from a lot of the Caps and their fam to your fam. Fam jam bam.
Chris’ favorite wrestlers of 2019
This is my last pregame in December so I had to shoot my shot for the very few wrestling fans out there in RMNB land. This one is for all three of you, me, and Ian.
- The entirety of The Undisputed Era. I cheated here because Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish all deserve a mention.
- Johnny Gargano. One of the all time great babyface characters already. His struggle for the NXT title was just the best.
- Velveteen Dream. Washington DC’s own is well on his way to becoming one of the biggest and brightest stars in the industry. Dream over.
- Rhea Ripley. What a meteoric rise and the current star of NXT’s women’s division which is arguably the best division in professional wrestling at the moment.
- Tyler Bate. He had my favorite match of the year with WALTER at NXT UK’s Cardiff Takeover. Bright young British talent with all the potential in the world.

