After watching his team fall in a 2-0 series hole against the Blue Jackets, Capitals head coach Barry Trotz is making changes, albeit subtle, to his lineup.
#Caps lines for Game 3:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Backstrom-Boyd
Connolly-Eller-DSP
Stephenson-Beagle-Chiasson*Vrana in for Burakovsky.
*Oshie is not on the ice; he’s taking a maintenance day.Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos*Djoos replaces Jerabek
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) April 17, 2018
Boyd would appear to be a place holder for Oshie, who’s been dealing a nagging ailment for a few weeks now. We’ll get an update from Trotz in a bit, obviously.
— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) April 17, 2018
Jakub Vrana, a controversial scratch for Game Two, will return to the lineup, and replace the injured Andre Burakovsky on the second line.
Certainly seemed like Trotz was saying Vrana will slot right into where Burakovsky was in the lineup. Said there were "jitters" in Vrana's first game, and it seemed "overwhelming" for him at times. But "Jake is going to be fine."
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 16, 2018
Burakovsky will miss at least the next two games due to an upper-body injury. Vrana will slot in on the left side with Nicklas Backstrom and, most likely, TJ Oshie.
Trotz said he expects Oshie to play tonight.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 17, 2018
Oshie missed Tuesday’s morning skate due to a nagging injury and was replaced by Travis Boyd. The Capitals forward also absorbed a rough run from Nick Foligno late in the third period of Game Two.
TJ Oshie gets rocked by Nick Foligno pic.twitter.com/RntkjaPUCn
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) April 16, 2018
Oshie appeared woozy immediately after the bodycheck, but remained in the game.
On defense, Christian Djoos will go into the lineup for one of the worst defensemen in the NHL Brooks Orpik Jakub Jerabek. Jerabek got beaten in an individual battle by Matt Calvert that led to the Blue Jackets overtime game winner in Game Two.
While it’s only a two-game sample, Jerabek owns the team’s worst five-on-five shot-attempts percentage among defenseman during the postseason.
These numbers are score and venue adjusted. (Via Natural Stat Trick)
Braden Holtby will start in goal.
Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk
