Hoo boy, the Capitals stink lately. And today at 1 PM in Pittsburgh, we’ll watch them either continue to stink or actually, ya know, do something about it. Here’s some comfort I can offer you: the Penguins have been pretty bad lately too, having just recently snapped a long losing streak.
Puck drop is at 1 PM. I have the sarcastic honorrrrr of doing the recap.
 |
 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Record | 39-21-6 | 40-20-7 |
| Shot Attempt % | 51.1% | 51.6% |
| PDO | 100.5 | 100.4 |
| Power Play | 20.5% (16th) | 19.6% (17th) |
| Penalty Kill | 82.4% (8th) | 82.8% (5th) |
Projected Lines
We didn’t get line updates yesterday, but it sounds like there won’t be big changes.
Ovechkin – Kuznetsov – Wilson
Vrana – Backstrom – Oshie
Hagelin – Eller – Kovalchuk
Panik – Dowd – Hathaway
Dillon – Carlson
Jensen – Orlov
Siegenthaler – Kempny
Holtby
On the Caps Being Bad
There is a lot of discussion to be had about how the Caps have been playing lately. I want to point you to stories at Japers Rink in particular:
- “The Caps’ Play is Poor and We’re Gonna Talk About It” by Kevin Klein
- “Capitals Coach Todd Reirden is Running Out of Solutions to Stop Poor Play” by our boy Chris Gordon
To be honest, I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around precisely how the Caps are playing badly because it’s so much more than one or two little things. One thing I can call out: there’s a major disconnect in how the forwards and defense are playing, which we see in one direction with failed breakouts and in the other with odd-man rushes against the Caps net.
Kevin’s article makes an important point about how the Caps are no longer seeing opponent goals get scored in proportion to expectations, and that’s really concerning. And the Caps having deep troughs has been a recurring feature of their midseasons lately– but unlike the past they don’t appear to be rallying after the trade deadline this time.
So, yeah. Not fun.
Storylines
- We didn’t wanna talk about how bad the Caps are lately, so me and Brennin thought up what Braden Holtby’s goal songs would be.
- Because, for real, the Caps are bad right now.
- Mika went beast mode on ’em.
- The Caps are “not any fun right now.”
- At least Kovalchuk got his first Caps goal.
- Karl Alzner was soooo close to playing forward the other night.
My cat and my guitar
Sorry for being self-indulgent here, but I will now share you media from my Friday night. Including this hypnotic view of Winnifred galloping down the hallway.
— Peter Hassett (@peterhassett) March 6, 2020
And this video of my new guitar, a Solar A2.6PN.
I’m not very good at playing it yet, but I’ll get better soon. Kinda like the Caps. I hope.
