The Washington Capitals are back home to take on the Los Angeles Kings and their lineup will be different.
Evgeny Kuznetsov will reclaim his first-line center spot after completing his one-game suspension for high-sticking.
Kuznetsov’s addition will force Connor McMichael back out of the lineup. The prospect had his first NHL fight and played a chaotic 8:33 in the Capitals’ 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators. McMichael, who is set to miss the fifth game out of six total, is eligible to be optioned to Hershey (where he could play big minutes) because he’s not eligible for waivers.
The lines were reported by The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir.
#Caps a.m. skate lines and pairs ahead of LAK on Saturday night:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Johansson-Strome-Oshie
Protas-Eller-Mantha
Snively-Dowd-HathawayOrlov-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Gustafsson-TvRExtras: McMichael, Malenstyn and Irwin
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) October 22, 2022
Kuznetsov will skate between Alex Ovechkin and Conor Sheary while Dylan Strome will center a trio with Marcus Johansson and TJ Oshie to complete the top six.
The Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary line will try to build off a dominant third period together against the Vancouver Canucks where they scored three 5v5 goals together (Carlson, Sheary, Ovechkin) and had a 10-2 5v5 shot-attempts advantage per Natural Stat Trick.
Joe Snively, who had two shots in his season debut, will stay in the lineup and continue playing on the left wing of the fourth line.
Darcy Kuemper will start his fourth straight game after having his best outing to date for his new team. Kuemper stopped 39 of 42 shots against the Senators including 34 of 35 at even strength. The game pushed Kuemper’s season save percentage over .900 for the first time this year.
The Capitals will look to rebound against the Kings, who are 3-3 this season and have a goals differential of minus-six.
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette was not on the ice and missed practice due to a non-COVID illness.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
