Your savory breakfast links:

• Previews of tonight's tangle in T.O. from Vogs, NHL.com, WaPo, Peerless, RMNB, CRtC and RtR, and be sure to check out our SB Nation BFFs Pension Plan Puppets for more coverage from the other side of tonight's match-up.
• Notes and assorted whatnot from yesterday's practice:
  • Actually, practice was cancelled in an effort to let the boys recharge the batteries. [Caps365 video (Boudreau), WashTimes, WaPo]
  • But Alex Ovechkin (pulling off stripes on stripes, bee tee dubs) turned on the charm for the assembled gaggle of press. [Caps365 video, with more from Brooks Laich and Troy Brouwer]
• Fact: the Caps need to be harder to play against. (Unsurprisingly, the mere acquisitions of Brouwer and Joel Ward didn't get them all the way there.) [Dump 'n Chase]
• They also need to show that their power-play can work even without its number one quarterback... [WashTimes]
• ... Because their problems run deeper than any one player (even the one with the "C" on his sweater, whose shot totals are down, in case you hadn't heard). [ESPN, PHT]
• Speaking of The Great Eight, before there can be Hockey Night in Canada, there must be Hack-y Day in Canadian Media. [Winnipeg Free Press and Toronto Sun, with more on Ovechkin at QMI, National Post]
• Given all that, can you blame Bruce Boudreau for being tired of talking about his struggling captain? [WashTimes, PHT]
• And speaking of Boudreau, do you think this will get a mention on Coach's Corner tonight? [NHL.com]
• Being "Young" is certainly getting old. [Peerless]
• The Caps are apparently "a waste of talent." Um, okay. [RtR]
• ESPN The Mag takes a look at Karl Alzner's gluten-free diet. Maybe the rest of the Caps blueliners ought to give it a shot. [FanShot]
• It could always be worse. And it has been. Much. [Sick, Unbelievable]
• Finally, happy 38th birthday to Dean Melanson and happy 50th to Grant Ledyard.