The Washington Capitals are retooling their lines again ahead of their second game against the Penguins this season. The middle six is where the most change has happened.
Head coach Peter Laviolette has bumped Daniel Sprong up to the second line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jakub Vrana. Laviolette has also placed TJ Oshie on the third with Lars Eller and Richard Panik.
By Ian Oland 10 hours ago
Toronto Maple Leafs anthem singer, Martina Ortiz Luis, performed a special rendition of O Canada ahead of the Jets-Leafs game on Monday.
“We’re doing something special for tonight’s anthem in celebration of #MLKDay! Don’t miss it! #LeafsForever,” Martina wrote on Twitter.
Martina collaborated with several local gospel singers from the Sole Power Choir of Toronto. This was the stunning result.
The Washington Capitals officially added new decals to their helmets on Monday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The stickers read Celebrating Equality and feature a profile illustration of Willie O’Ree wearing his signature top hat. Today marks the 63rd anniversary of Willie O’Ree breaking the color barrier with the Boston Bruins (January 18, 1958). Later this season, the Bruins will retire O’Ree’s number.
Michigan natives Dylan Larkin and Zach Werenski are longtime friends who played on the same youth hockey teams together since they were 10 years old. Monday, the two played each other in the NHL at Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena – one a captain of the Red Wings and the other a star defenseman for the Blue Jackets. Larkin even left tickets for Werenski’s parents so they could attend the game.
They fought each other in the third period.
#hockey
The Washington Capitals have a lot of pregame routines. Over the years it’s included biting, cup checks, butt slashes, screaming profanity, and lots of high fives.
One of the less-heralded, but equally ridiculous superstitions was done by Jakub Vrana and Madison Bowey. The two friends would hold hands going out to the ice for warmups.
But now with Bowey out of the organization, Vrana has found a new teammate to continue the tradition during the 2020-21 season: the very serious and professional Nicklas Backstrom.
Old foes and old woes were the stories that led to the Washington Capitals’ first “defeat” of this strange season, 4-3 to the ole pesky Pittsburgh Penguins. I put defeat in quotes because when you lose in a shootout…did you really lose a hockey game?
The Pens outshot the Caps 27 to 23 and the five-on-five shot attempts were locked up at 32 apiece.
By Chris Cerullo 2 days ago
Tom Wilson played physical, rugged, and fast against the Penguins during the teams’ first matchup of the season on Sunday.
Wilson led all Capitals players with eight hits — he has the third-most in the NHL this season — and was a monster both along the boards and near the crease.
For instance, check out this play between Wilson and Sidney Crosby in the Capitals’ offensive zone. Wilson attempts to move the puck but can’t because he’s being stick-checked by Crosby.
So here was his solution.
Sometimes the hockey gods aren’t on your side and Sunday in Pittsburgh, the Penguins got just enough bounces to pull out a 4-3 shootout victory. It marked Pittsburgh’s first win and Washington’s first loss of the season.
Alex Ovechkin, who scored his first goal of the season in the first period, was centimeters away from scoring a second midway through the third period.
It’s been way too long — nearly a calendar year — since the Washington Capitals spent a day visiting their best buddies, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are still a bit rusty, as Sunday’s matinee can attest.
The Penguins got on the scoreboard first as Evan Rodrigues deflected a screened pass from Brian Dumoulin. The Caps responded with some fourth line grease and then took the leads thanks to Alex Ovechkin’s first goal of the season.
That lead was erased in the second period when Ilya Samsonov made a bad play behind his net. That mistake was temporarily given reprieve from a clean Kuznetsov-to-Backstrom sequence on the power play, but Marcus Petterson’s goal restored the tie, making it 3-3 going into the third period.
The third gave us heartburn but no goals, so we tried and failed to decide the game in overtime. Instead, I bring you the return of shootout bullets.
Caps lose.
By Peter Hassett 2 days ago
Alex Ovechkin was scoreless, inconceivably, after two games to start this season. That simply could not be allowed to stand any longer.
Before the first period of Sunday’s Caps-Pens game was over, Ovechkin remedied the problem with an assist from Kuznetsov and Wilson.
By Peter Hassett 2 days ago
