Thank goodness, the Capitals were not suck against the Colorado Avalanche the other night. Their western trip continues with a slightly less fearsome opponents for a late-night game. Here come the Coyotes, who have Taylor Hall for some reason. Maybe Ovi can score a goal?
Puck drop is at 10:00 PM. Chris has recap. Let’s get #rmnbafterdark weird.
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|---|---|---|
| Record | 28-24-8 | 37-15-5 |
| Shot Attempt % | 48.4% | 52.1% |
| PDO | 100.1 | 100.6 |
| Power Play | 19.1% (20th) | 20.9% (12th) |
| Penalty Kill | 83.1% (6th) | 84.0% (3rd) |
Projected Lines
Looks like the Caps will be without Evgeny Kuznetsov again, which means the lines are unchanged.
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Wilson
Vrana – Eller – Oshie
Hagelin – Boyd – Panik
Leipsic – Dowd – Hathaway
Kempny – Carlson
Orlov – Jensen
Siegenthaler – Gudas
Holtby
The Fourth Line
Ben Raby has an excellent story on NHL.com today about how great Washington’s fourth line of Brendan Leipsic, Nic Dowd, and Garnet Hathaway have been. For most of the season, they’ve probably been the best fourth line in the entire league. This line graph below uses Natural Stat Trick data to show the difference in expected goals (both teams’ offense independent of goaltending) over time.
The fourth line took a step back at the end of November, but they’re still very very good. Probably the best fourth line Washington has had since Winnik-Beagle-Wilson. Maybe even before that.
Storylines
- Nicky Backstrom gave a rage rant during the Caps-Avs game. It’s always the quiet ones. You’d never expect them to have all those bodies buried in their backyards.
- 🍩
- Kuznetsov is on the mend.
- The Mighty Ducks is coming back. No, not that Might Ducks. The good one.
- Seven games for Kassian.
- Chandler Stephenson is on fire in Vegas. Playing with Stone and Patches will do that to ya.
- Erik Karlsson broke his thumb. He’s done for the season.
- Evander Kane was mad, and he just posted through the anger.
- Someone give Bruce Boudreau a job.
Periphery in Concert
I’ll miss the beginning of the game, as I’ll be seeing Periphery in concert at the Fillmore. Apparently their lead singer has laryngitis, so it’s just gonna be a bunch of guitar shredding and no singing. Should be wild.
Anyway, I’ll catch you later.
Full RMNB Coverage of Caps at Coyotes
Headline photo: Jean Beaufort
