Your savory breakfast links:
- Alex Ovechkin has one – ONE – power-play point so far this season. Take a look at why that is, and why it’s a good thing (for the team, at least). [Rink]
- Previews of tonight’s Metro showdown against Columbus from Vogs, Caps Today, the Blue Jackets, AP, Peerless, and be sure to check out our SB Nation pals over at The Cannon for the other side of tonight’s matchup.
- After missing a couple of games due to illness, Ryan Johansen is expected to be back in for Columbus – but now Brandan Saad is sick and will miss tonight’s game. [CBJ, CSNMA]
- At one point it seemed like he might never arrive in DC; now that he’s here, Evgeny Kuznetsov is turning into the player everyone hoped he would be. [WaPo (and again), CBS DC]
- A few leftovers from Wednesday night. [Dump ‘n Chase, Post-Gazette, Peerless, Stars and Sticks]
- The team result wasn’t great, but how did the individuals do? Find out in the latest Rink Rank. [Rink]
- Breaking down the underlying stats from the Pens perspective, aka “Marc-Andre Fleury saved your bacon, Pittsburgh”. [Pensburgh]
- Taking a closer look at a missed breakout by Brooks Orpik that directly led to the Pens’ first goal. [RMNB]
- More on the super successful Hockey Fights Cancer night, which raised money and awareness for a great cause. [Caps, FTW, WaPo, NoVa Caps]
- News and notes from a day of rest and video:
- In general. [Monumental video (Trotz, Alzner, Chimera, Wilson)]
- Barry Trotz would like his team to show more resilience. Ditto. [CSNMA]
- He’d also like to see a slightly different lineup, so look for some changes – at least on the fourth line. [WaPo, CSNMA]
- Trotz may want to focus on breaking up the Caps’ third line, instead. [Off the Glass]
- Jay Beagle: faceoff king. [WaPo]
- Alex Ovechkin spent his day off at the Russian embassy accepting an award for his work with the Russian Oympic movement. So a perfectly normal day off, then. [Caps OT (embassy, Ovi and fiancee, ceremony, award), CSNMA (video)]
- Speaking of Ovechkin, get a little nostalgic and marvel at how his top 10 career moments are just a small fraction of what he’s done overall. [Sporting News]
- Eight players who, it may surprise you to learn, have big zeros next to their name so far this year. Or maybe it won’t surprise you. [Puck Daddy]
- Check out some other key stats and numbers as we reflect on the first tenth of the season. [SI.com]
- Fantasy hockey owners, rejoice and snap up some potentially productive newcomers in red, white and blue. [Puck Daddy]
- Madison Bowey has officially checked in with his first points as a professional, and other updates from the prospect pool. [CSNMA]
- The NHL’s coaches are up to the challenge of carrying out the coach’s challenge. [AP]
- New to hockey stats? Get to know the basics. [VICE Sports]
- Former Caps’ coach Bruce Boudreau is feeling the heat, but he’s got the support of at least one of his old players in Jason Chimera. [CSNMA]
- Coming soon for Verizon Center VIPs: talking vodka bottle. Y’know… when the booze starts sending you messages, it’s probably time to stop. [WaPo]
- Watch Jill Sorenson, Jay Beagle and friends shoot at a poor, defenseless (fake) deer. [CSNMA]
- Reimagining NHL teams as scary movies… hopefully minus the green projectile vomit. [THW]
- Finally, happy 38th birthday to Ivan Ciernik, happy 48th to Pat Elynuik, happy 32nd to Sean Collins, happy 63rd to Ron Lalonde, and happy 31st to Tyson Strachan.