A questionable hit, a massive brain fart, and Joel Ward all combined to give the Washington Capitals the 1-0 series lead on Thursday night. The Caps and Rangers are at it again this afternoon in a 12:30 matinee at MSG, looking to avoid going down 2-0 before headed to D.C. The Rangers played the Caps’ game in the first two periods on Thursday night, getting thoroughly outworked. New York needs the game to be a track meet to win, and that’s what happened in the third period. Skate, speed, generate off the rush, and they will win.

Of course, Alain Vigneault will need to adjust some of his matchups. He will need to try and exploit Brooks Orpik’s skating by trying to get the Kreider/Stepan/Miller line out there on him. He will need to keep two of McDonagh/Girardi/Staal/Klein out when Ovechkin is on the ice. He will need to try and get Nash out there against the Alzner/Niskanen pairing. Try to get Hayes on the ice against Green/Gleason.

Kevin did a nice run down of how the Caps play today, Justin broke down how to beat Braden Holtby, Chris did a full preview of the series, and I wrote about why shadowing Ovechkin isn’t the right move. If you haven’t checked those out, you should. They are good reads while waiting for the game to begin.

Caps Systems

Under Barry Trotz the Caps run a 1-1-3 lock or a 1-2-2 forecheck, which they use aggressively or conservatively depending on the game situation (e.g., puck location, the score, etc.). In the defensive zone, Trotz runs your standard zone defense. On special teams, the Caps employ a 1-3-1 power play, and a diamond/box hybrid penalty kill depending on puck location and opposition setup.

Caps Lines

Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Joel Ward
Marcus Johansson-Alex Kuznetsov-Jason Chimera
Andre Burakovsky-Jay Beagle-Troy Brouwer
Curtis Glencross-Brooks Laich-Tom Wilson

Brooks Orpik-John Carlson
Karl Alzner-Matt Niskanen
Tim Gleason-Mike Green

PP1: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Brouwer-Johansson-Carlson
PP2: Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Ward-Glencross-Carlson

PK: Laich, Brouwer, Fehr, Ward, Backstrom, Orpik, Carlson, Niskanen, Alzner

Braden Holtby gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Rick Nash–Derick Brassard–Martin St. Louis
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–J.T. Miller
Carl Hagelin–Kevin Hayes–Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass–Dominic Moore–James Sheppard

Ryan McDonagh–Dan Girardi
Marc Staal–Kevin Klein
Keith Yandle–Dan Boyle

PP1: Kreider-Stepan-St. Louis-Brassard-Boyle
PP2: Nash-Hayes-Miller-McDonagh-Yandle

PK: Stepan, Nash, Girardi, Staal, Moore, Fast, Hunwick, Boyle, Hagelin, Yandle, McDonagh

Henrik Lundqvist is in net.

Scratches/Injuries: Mats Zuccarello (upper body)

Crazy Prediction: The Rangers score more than two goals.

Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 12:30pm on NBC.

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