Outgoing Caps reporter Adam Vingan (Photo by Monumental, modified by Prewitt)
In three meetings this season, the Capitals have outscored the Penguins 10-1. Inside the Metro, only Carolina has a worse intra-division record than the Penguins (7-11-4). Crosby’s reportedly having an off-year, and the fans are quite grumpy.
And none of that matters tonight.
The Penguins are still an excellent team. Crosby’s decline is mostly meaningless statistical noise; he’s still the best playmaker in the league, and the team’s record against the Metro doesn’t tell me much about who’s gonna win tonight. Like every game, this one will be decided by who’s got the better goalie and which team helps him out the most. I peeked at the Caps’ lines, and I think it’ll be the home team who wins this one and secures a regular-season sweep for the first time in five years.
8 PM on NBCSN. Do the thing.
| Team | Record | Possession | PDO | Power Play | Penalty Kill |
| Washington Capitals | 33-18-10 | 51.8% | 100.3 | 23.7% | 80.8% |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 34-17-9 | 52.9% | 100.7 | 20.5% | 85.6% |
Projected Lineup
The classic, per Prewitt:
Ovechkin – Backstrom – Burakovsky
Johansson– Kuznetsov – Brouwer
Laich – Fehr – Ward
Chimera – Latta – Wilson
Orpik – Carlson
Alzner – Niskanen
Schilling – Green
Holtby
Most Jinxy Thing on the Internet Today
A Slight Policy Change
I have revisited my absolute No Jagr policy. I am now, sigh, officially advocating trading for Jaromir Jagr before the deadline. I shall expand on the details of this policy change tomorrow.
Storylines
- The Caps are “all in.”
- Ovi got bad advice in the past, but now he’s getting good advice.
- After a bad night of special teams, the Caps drilled it hard in practice.
- Remember how cranky the Pens got last game?
- The weekly snapshot, bursting with hot takes, is available for your perusal. Reddit hated it, so there’s that.
- “Why can’t the Penguins solve Braden Holtby?”
- With Patrick Kane out, Backstrom has a real shot at the Art Ross. I betcha Kane is back in time to help Chicago compete for another Cup.
- Not hockey: Bryce Harper sucks or something, I don’t know, I didn’t read carefully, does he suck? Let’s go with yes.
What You’re Missing on TV Tonight
I don’t know. I don’t care. I don’t care about anything anymore now that Parks and Rec is gone. Not to get sappy, but that show meant a lot to me. It was inspiring and progressive and clever, but most of all it was funny. Funny is important.
If I took the personality quiz in Tom’s book, I would definitely be a Ben.
