Your savory breakfast links:
- Previews of tonight’s meeting with Steven Stamkos and friends from Vogs, NHL.com, AP, and be sure to check out our SB Nation pals over at Raw Charge for the other side of tonight’s matchup.
- Good news for the banged-up Caps, as it appears shiny new winger Martin Erat will be returning to the lineup against Tampa. [CSNW]
- Assorted news and notes from yesterday’s practice out at Kettler:
- In general [Monumental video (Rinkside update, Oates, Ribeiro, Johansson, Green, Erat)]
- Things are not sounding good in the groin department for Brooks Laich, who may be facing surgery to fix whatever’s going on down there… [WaPo (and again), DCEx, WashTimes, CSNW]
- …while Joel Ward skated for the first time since taking a puck to the knee during Tampa’s last visit. Darn you, Sami Salo!! [WaPo]
- A few leftover goodies – and some numbers, too – from Thursday’s victory over Carolina. [Shutdown Line]
- Speaking of Carolina, remember that guy they locked up for five more years and a gazillion dollars? Thursday’s game may have been a reminder of why the Caps got out just in time. [Homer McFanboy]
- The 2009 vintage of Mike Green has aged quite nicely, revealing a hint of maturity with undertones of awesome goal-scoring. Makes a great accompaniment to Swedish and Russian dishes. Serve chilled. [RMNB]
- Where Alex Ovechkin is scoring his goals is perhaps just as important as the opponents he’s scoring against, if not more so… [Sporting News]
- …and the burning question now is, can he keep it up regardless of the rink? [NHL.com]
- We’re not that far removed from a time where the Caps would have been on the wrong side of a list outlining the NHL’s best surprises and deepest disappointments. Not today, my friends. [Senators Extra]
- A late goal by Providence dropped the Bears by a score of 3-2… and knocked them out of 8th place. Hopefully just temporarily. [PennLive, LDNews, SHOE]
- A few nights after hosting a screening of the Jackie Robinson movie 42, Joel Ward talks about Robinson and the jersey number he selected in tribute to the baseball great. [WashTimes]
- Finally, happy 50th birthday to Jim McGeough and happy 39th to Sergei Gonchar. Woop-… nah, never mind.