Photo: Capstagram
I’ll keep this short. You know the stakes.
“It’s game seven. It’s not about the jokes right now.” That’s what Alex Ovechkin told NHL.com’s Katie Brown this morning.
The series is tied 3-3. Winner advances. Loser’s season is done. 7:30 PM with Joe B and Locker on CSN..
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 45-26-11 | 51.9% | 100.3 | 25.3% | 81.2% |
| New York Islanders | 47-28-7 | 53.5% | 99.1 | 18.7% | 78.0% |
Projected Lineup
Latta’s taking a seat. According to Prewitt and delivered via Emoji:
Forwards
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Defense
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Goaltender
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No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Head to Head
Datarink.com has a great visualization of how the Caps and Isles are doing in head-to-head match-ups. I’ve made some annotations.
Forward depth is a big problem for the Caps and a huge asset for the Isles. Tim Gleason has been positively outplayed up and down the lineup but so too have Calvin de Haan and Brian Strait.
Let’s see how those names factor into tonight’s decision.
Storylines
- The Capitals’ franchise record in games seven is 3 and 6. They know this. They are ready.
- Halak.
Great stuff in the in-box this morning from @ESPNStatsInfo & Vince Masi. Liked this breakdown of Halak vs. Caps: pic.twitter.com/bNxNPgFiw7
— Craig Custance (@CraigCustance) April 27, 2015
- Michael Latta is a scratch. Curtis Glencross returns to action for the first time since game three.
- Barry Trotz needs you to get loud and think positive thoughts. I’ll meet him halfway.
- Ya girl Katie Baker on Rangers fans watching this game.
- Neil wants less Alex versus Johnny and more Alex versus Brian.
- Lambert says the lack of Caps power plays might just be because the Isles are good at not committing penalties.
- If I had spent my time better today, I could have seen a Giant Panda at the zoo get artificially inseminated over Periscope. Butterstick II, y’all!
Finally: Putin GIFs
Because we NEED them.
Adversity is the diamond dust heaven polishes its jewels with.
