The Washington Capitals are down in Raleigh, North Carolina’s PNC Arena to face off against the Carolina Hurricanes for their fourth preseason game and second exhibition in consecutive nights. Thursday, the Capitals lost to the Montreal Canadiens 5-2, falling to 0-3 in the preseason. Alex Ovechkin scored his first goal since Game Five of the Stanley Cup Final.
Russian forward Sergei Shumakov will make his highly-anticipated preseason debut, Friday. Shumakov led CSKA Moscow with 40 points (17g, 23a) in 47 games over the course of the 2017-18 KHL season. Shumakov will play alongside Lars Eller and Chandler Stephenson on the second line, with possible deployment on the power play.
In an interview with Mike Vogel, Capitals defenseman Dmitry Orlov spoke about what we might expect from Shuamkov.
Orlov discusses a couple Russian Caps players that made there way over to North America this offseason #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/8VvnrRwsU0
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 21, 2018
“He has some good hands and got some skill,” Dmitry Orlov said. “He’s doing better right now from the flight and everything. We’ll see. I think he plays today with Lars and [Chandler Stephenson]. They have a good line and I hope they play good. He has a little bit confidence step-by-step. We’ll see how it goes.”
Vogel asked Orlov how the Caps’ three already-established Russians have helped both Shumakov and goaltending prospect Ilya Samsonov in their transition to North American hockey.
“They both good players already,” Orlov said. “They not young, you know: Sumi’s 26; Samsonov 21, 22. They play on a good level in KHL and a good team. So they know how to win and how they need to be to working hard to get success. It’s nice to see them there. Of course, they still need to learn some stuff mental and special language to understand his partners and coaches. We always try to help them. They right now enjoy it and hope they get opportunity and use it.”
Here are the Caps’ full lines for tonight.
Tonight’s lineup in Carolina #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/H0j9M6Kfoe
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 21, 2018
Nic Dowd, Riley Barber, and Shane Gersich are all in the lineup, as the three of them continue to battle for a coveted spot in Washington’s bottom-six. On the blue line, Jonas Siegenthaler, Lucas Johansen, and Aaron Ness will compete to earn the spot as the seventh defenseman on the roster. Siegenthaler impressed in the second preseason game in Boston, logging 21:03 in TOI and playing an important role on the penalty kill.
Braden Holtby will start in goal, and Ilya Samsonov will likely replace him halfway through the game.
The Carolina Hurricanes’ lineup is below.
An updated #Canes game group that now features Lucas Wallmark. Janne Kuokkanen, Jake Bean expected to be the healthy scratches from this roster. pic.twitter.com/xNBcVTEBhM
— Michael Smith (@MSmithCanes) September 21, 2018
Former Capitals forward Justin Williams, who was recently named captain of the Canes, will play.
Headline photo: @CapitalsPR
