Tuesday Caps Clips: Capitals @ Blue Jackets Game Day

Your savory breakfast links:

• As the unofficial second half begins, how’d the unofficial first half look for each Cap? [Rink]
• Novel concept: play your best players at the most critical times. [Rink]
• Oh, and also play more of the game at five-on-four and less at four-on-five. [Rink]
• Previews of tonight’s game in C’bus (where the cannon will hopefully remain silent after a workout Sunday afternoon) from Vogs, NHL.com, Blue Jackets and Peerless, and be sure to check out our SB Nation pals over at The Cannon (hopefully they’ll remain silent, too) for the other side of tonight’s matchup.
  • What about Bob? He’s a no-go – out 4-6 weeks with a groin injury. [Jackets]
  • As they resume play, the Caps are in a pretty good position… but they haven’t accomplished anything quite yet. [Rink]
• News and notes from yesterday’s practice out in snowy ‘Lumbus:
  • In general. [Monumental video (Trotz, Holtby), WaPo]
  • Look for the Caps to recall Cameron Schilling today… weather permitting. [@alex_prewitt]
  • The team doesn’t want to play “safe” with a lead, but they do want to “secure” games with better “puck management” and “patience.” Buzzwords! [WaPo]
• The Caps have gotten better just the way they’d planned – by upgrading the back end. [Dump ‘N Chase]
• John Carlson is having a big year sans Karl Alzner, but that’s cool. [CSNW]
• Alex Ovechkin has been and continues to be pretty great at scoring goals. [RMNB]
• Some All-Star weekend leftovers:
  • On player tracking. [WaPo]
  • Y’know, if you’re hating on the event, maybe you should realize that you’re not the target audience for it. (Surely there must be some clouds you can go yell at.) [SB Nation]
  • Ovi had a pretty great weekend… [Stars & Sticks]
  • … which included giving away a car… [Monumental (video)]
  • … and calling up a random fan because why not? [D.C. Sports Bog]
• Coach Trotz is on a mission to save a tiger. Alrighty then. [D.C. Sports Bog, Deadspin]
• Bold second-half predictions, they haz ’em. [Stars & Sticks]
• Interesting look at teams, shots and scoring chances. [TSN]
• Connor Carrick can bring it. Who knew? [RMNB]
• Oh, hey, they scored a ton of goals in the AHL All-Star Game, too. [Patriot-News]
• Former Cap and Hershey Bears great Frederic Cassivi was inducted into the AHL Hall of Fame on Monday, and Bruce Boudreau and Eric Fehr paid tribute. [Patriot-News]
• Finally, happy 60th birthday to Brian Engblom.