Pre-Cap: Capitals vs. Kings

OK, that picture is a little bit wrong, but it's all in good fun.

Tonight we get to see a team that has finished its rebuild against a team that is in the middle of one. If you remember, the mid-rebuild Capitals were a tough, never-give-up team and you can expect that out of the Kings.

Yes, the Caps should win, but you know what happens when you start acting like you should win games. Let's hope the boys don't fall asleep tonight.
Washington Capitals (11-4-3, last game 6-4 win over Anaheim)
vs. Los Angeles Kings (7-8-2, last game 2-0 loss to Anaheim)

The story so far...
Talk about a game of extreme highs and then lows. The Capitals rushed out to a three-goal lead, then gave up two. The second period faired better, but then again in the third it seemed as if the Capitals were saying, "Go ahead, we don't want these two points anyway." Fortunately they did, and we got them. The Ducks are a physical team that tries to drain you, so after what could be described as a draining game the Caps face the Kings, who have some pretty playmakers of their own.

Key Players
WSH: Alex Ovechkin, Tomas Fleischmann
LAK: Anze Kopitar, Jarret Stoll

Super PP, meet your match
The Capitals power play last night? Awesome. Against the Ducks' ninth-ranked PK, it was impressive to see the Capitals finally burying the puck on the man advantage. Now they face a bigger test. The Kings have the third-best penalty kill in the league. The Kings PP isn't any better, they rank 18th.

Not the right way to rebuild
The Kings are learning how to win, but hopefully not from this guy:


Spreading it around
The problem isn't that the Kings aren't putting the puck in the net, but more that they haven't had a single player emerge as the catalyst for the team's goal scoring. Center Anze Kopitar leads the Kings with 11 assists, but two players lead the team in goals with only six. Spreading the wealth is always a good thing, but having two players you can rely on for goals is another thing.

Los Angeles Kings! COME ON DOWN!!!
The Kings appeared on "The Price is Right" to promote a hockey showcase.



So bad, it's awesome.

Secondary Ovie?
It's no lie, we give Sidney Crosby hell for the amount of secondary assists he racks up. Truth is, Ovechkin could be charged with that too, especially after last night's game. Ovechkin was the secondary assister on all three goals scored in the first period. During Ovechkin's goal drought, many of his points were from secondary assists.



For your X-mas consideration
Wii? Xbox? Playstation? HDTV? None of them can top this.



That's actually one of the best hockey commercials I've seen recently.

LET'S GO CAPS