On Sunday, the Capitals (1-4-1) wrap up their preseason at Capital One Arena against the Blues (4-2-0) at 3 PM. The Capitals look to bounce back from a 5-4 OT loss to the Carolina Hurricanes Friday to finish the preseason on a high note.
The Capitals will line up with their probable opening night roster. On the blue line, Madison Bowey will continue to develop his game, as he will see increased minutes with Michal Kempny remaining out of the line up due to an upper-body injury injury.
On defense, Matt Niskanen and Dmity Orlov will be paired together. The pair skated for 1,147 minutes together during the 2017-18 season while generating 1,033 shot attempts.
For the forwards, the Capitals return to their Stanley Cup-winning lines minus Jay Beagle, who signed with the Vancouver Canucks during the offseason. Beagle is replaced on the fourth line with Nic Dowd.
Nathan Walker is the healthy scratch in the forward corps. Walker will look to crack the starting line up as Travis Boyd recovers from a lower-body injury. Boyd is noted to be missing significant time after blocking a shot off his foot.
Capitals today:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Vrana-Backstrom-Oshie
Burakovsky-Eller-Connolly
Stephenson-Dowd-DSPOrlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Carlson
Orpik-BoweyHoltby
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) September 30, 2018
Goaltenders Phoenix Copley and Braden Holtby dress for the final game as well. Even after Holtby logged a full game against the Hurricanes Friday, he will dress for the entire game today as a regular season practice.
The Blues recalled a handful of players on Saturday, so some of their key players will rest before the start of the regular season.
Headline photo: Cara Bahniuk
