Your savory breakfast links:
- Previews of tonight’s 5pm Sabres dance from Vogs and NHL.com, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partners over at Die by the Blade for the other side of tonight’s matchup.
- Oh noes! It has been two whole games since Alex Ovechkin scored a goal. Or at least one whole game since he very-nearly-scored a goal. So you should prob’ly panic. [CSNW]
- The Buffalo squad isn’t fooled, however. They are preparing carefully for the Gr8. [Buffalo Hockey Beat, sabres.nhl.com]
- Start your day with the warm fuzzies that can only be generated by fabulous photos of Capitals hockey hugs. Glory glory. [Rink]
- Okay, Philipp Grubauer, admit it. You’re straight up trolling us with all this winning, right? [WaPo, CSNW]
- Q: Sitting in third place and eleven points back of Sid Crosby and with two games in hand, could Nicklas Backstrom make a run at the Art Ross scoring title? A: Never say never, and please to resume scoring goals, Captain. Your centerman needs you! [Rant Sports]
- Is Eric Fehr a bust? [Caps Outsider]
- Brooks Laich traveled with the team to Buffalo, possibly improved enough to play tonight… [WaPo, CSNW]
- … and continuing his duties as Commisioner of the Caps Snarples League… [@brookslaich]
- … wait, what the heck is a Snarples? Whatever it is, lots of hockey teams play it, including the Caps on a snowy trip to NYC way back in 1996. You can download the app for yourself here and here.
- After two steps back, the Hershey Bears took a step forward with a shootout victory against the Baby Pens. [Patriot-News (and photos), SHoE]
- Dateline: Malmo, Sweden:
- Team USA notched its second round-robin victory with a 6-3 final against Slovakia. [USoH, CSNW, @CapitalsHill]
- Team Sweden had a bit more trouble with Finland, but still pulled out a 4-2 victory.
- USA takes on Germany today. [USoH]
- Finally, happy 32nd birthday, Jakub Cutta.
