Friday Caps Clips: Cannon Fodder; Caps vs. Preds Game Day

Your savory breakfast links:

• Recaps and other assorted musings on last night’s win from us, Vogs, Caps video (Laviolette, Oshie, Strome, Kuemper, recap), NHL, AP, WaPo, NBCSW, Dispatch, WHN, NoVa Caps, RMNB, and the Cannon.
• This goal, though. LOL.

• Despite his ongoing hip issue, Nicklas Backstrom never considered retiring, and he has put all his focus on returning to his team - something which could happen VERY soon. [ESPN]
• Alex Ovechkin has been selected for the NHL All-Star Game for a franchise-record 13th time! [Rink, Caps, NBCSW, NHL, ESPN, USA Today, THN, Reuters, AP, WHN, NoVa Caps, RMNB]
• With Nick Backstrom and Tom Wilson drawing ever closer to a return, what could the Caps’ lineup look like with them included? [S&S]
• More lineup talk and a look at the line shuffling that took place in the middle of Tuesday’s OT loss. [NoVa Caps]
• Not enough people are talking about the job Peter Laviolette has done to keep the Caps afloat during this insane run of injuries. [WaPo]
• And over the last month-plus, “staying afloat” has translated to “soaring up the standings”. [NBCSW]
• Sonny Milano has really made the most of his second chance with the Capitals. [Yahoo]
• The Caps and Alex Ovechkin have some fun initiatives in store for the community to celebrate his latest milestone. [Caps, WaPo]
• Congrats to Caps’ prospect Ryan Chesley and Team USA on winning the bronze medal at this year’s World Junior Championship! [IIHF, NHL, AP]
• T.J. Oshie is the all-time leading scorer at his alma mater, Warroad High School - the Wayne Gretzky of Warroad, if you will. But he’s got an Ovechkin of his own. [Grand Forks Herald]
• Finally, happy 67th birthday to Alex Forsyth, happy 47th to Richard Zednik, happy 33rd to Nicolas Deschamps, and happy 22nd to Aliaksei Protas!