Disclaimer: I know I’m trolling with this gif. It was a while ago and it’s still hilarious. Even the staunchest Girardi supporters have to find this to be funny. If it makes you feel any better, in one of my games I covered the puck (I’m a goalie), and shuffled it from my glove to someone who I thought was on my team. He was not. Empty net. I laugh about it now.

After a hard fought win in Pittsburgh, the Rangers are in Washington for another tough divisional matchup. There is one point separating the top five teams in the division, with the Rangers three points back of all of them. But the Rangers have games in hand on all of them. The win against Pittsburgh was a four-point swing. Another win tonight, and the Rangers will have gained a pair of points on both Washington and Pittsburgh without losing a game in hand.

The Rangers are getting this done without Mika Zibanejad, which is pretty amazing. They have Henrik Lundqvist back tonight, and they will need him to be on point with Ovi firing cannons from the dots. The Rangers are the deeper team, but the Caps have more high-end skill. This might be another wide-open affair.

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.

For more on these systems, check out our Hockey Systems page.

Caps Lines

Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Tom Wilson
Jacob Vrana-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Alex Chiasson
Brett Connolly-Lars Eller-Andre Burakovsky
Chandler Stephenson-Jay Beagle-Devante Smith-Pelley

Brooks Orpik-John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov-Matt Niskanen
Christian Djoos-Madison Bowey

PP1: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kuznetsov-Connolly-Carlson
PP2: WIlson-Eller-Vrana-Orlov-Niskanen

Braden Holtby gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris Kreider–David Desharnais–Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–Rick Nash
Michael Grabner–JT Miller–Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey–Boo Nieves–Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh–Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal–Brendan Smith

PP1: Kreider-Zuccarello-Desharnais-Buchnevich-Shattenkirk
PP2: Nash-Miller-Vesey-Hayes-McDonagh

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Mika Zibanejad (concussion), Steven Kampfer (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Ovi doesn’t score on the PP.

Game time is 7pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.

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