Happy new year! Spend your day relaxing with loved ones, and then let’s all convene to kick off Caps hockey tonight at home against the Senators, who are bad.
7:30 PM. Verizon Center. CSN. My couch. It’s Twenty Seminteen, y’all!
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ottawa Senators | 20-12-4 | 47.2% | 99.9 | 16.5% | 82.3% |
| Washington Capitals | 21-9-5 | 53.7% | 102.2 | 17.0% | 86.9% |
Projected Lines
This morning was an optional skate, so here’s how they looked in New Jersey yesterday, except with Holtby likely in net now.
Ovechkin – Backstrom– Oshie
Johansson – Kuznetsov – Williams
Connolly – Eller – Burakovsky
Winnik – Beagle – Wilson
Alzner – Carlson
Orlov – Niskanen
Orpik – Schmidt/Chorney?
Holtby
One wrinkle, however:
Chorney seems to be in today.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) January 1, 2017
Braden Holtby is Still Good
From the wonderful Don’t Tell Me About Heart and Micah Blake McCurdy.
https://twitter.com/DTMAboutHeart/status/814892399436636161
https://twitter.com/DTMAboutHeart/status/814892424061472768
By special request of somebody (I don't remember who), goalie results with a 350 minute minimum. pic.twitter.com/ChX7Rhx50C
— Micah Blake McCurdy (@IneffectiveMath) January 1, 2017
Meanwhile, Varly: woof. (It’s good to see Bob doing well too.)
Also, not super relevant, Trotz’s press strategy regarding his goaltenders is, well, flummoxing.
Me: "Who's your starting goaltender?"
Trotz: "Yes."
Me: "No, I said who is it?"
Trotz: "Yes."#playoffbarry— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) December 31, 2016
Storylines
- Best story of the day is what the Carolina Hurricanes did with 7.6 seconds left last night. You’ll like this one; promise.
- How the Caps spent their new years eve.
- The Capitals killed nine penalties yesterday. Last time they went shorthanded nine times was November of 2010 against the Flyers. Semin (#TwentySeminteen) committed three of those penalties. The Caps killed 8 of 9 that day.
- Alan May was NOT happy about the officiating yesterday.
- Tom Wilson feels bad about sending John Moore to the hospital. Moore has been released and diagnosed with a concussion. Wilson will not face supplemental discipline.
- Alex Ovechkin attended the optional morning skate today. It was optional, and Alex attended. You can see why this is news.
- Jakub Vrana has been re-assigned to Hershey. The Caps are gonna go with 12 forwards for now.
Twenty Seminteen
(Yes, I’m using the same image again. I made it. I love it. You will see it a lot this year.)
Let’s keep hockey weird in 2017. Let’s not get too self-serious. Let’s try not to smoke cigarettes. Let’s have fun and be excellent to each other. That is the spirit of Twenty Seminteen!
