Three things we’re talking about today when we’re talking about the Caps…
1. Blueline Blues
There’s an alternate universe in which the Caps had Nick Jensen, Rasmus Sandin and Ethan Bear in the lineup for Game 1, but that’s not the universe in which we’re living. (As a sidenote, in that universe, Nicklas Backstrom makes a Willis Reed-like return for Game 3 at Cap One Arena.) Instead, half of the Caps’ Game 1 blueline was made up of a trio of guys who played 118 games in the AHL this year Vincent Iorio’s 60 and Dylan McIlrath’s 58) and just 48 in the NHL (39 of which belonged to Alexander Alexeyev).