The Washington Capitals were shutout victors in Nashville on Saturday night but didn’t leave Bridgestone Arena unscathed. The team will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh and they’ll do so without two key players in TJ Oshie and John Carlson.
The Caps held their morning skate at PNC Arena before the Monday night matchup with the Canes. The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell provided the team’s updated lines.
There are three significant changes to the group that took on the Predators.
Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary
Johansson-Kuznetsov-McMichael
Protas-Eller-Mantha
Malenstyn-Dowd-Hathaway
Orlov-TVR
Fehervary-Jensen
Gustafsson-Irwin
Connor McMichael reenters the fray for just the second time this season. The 21-year-old top prospect has been held out of the Caps’ lineup by head coach Peter Laviolette in favor of veteran players for the vast majority of October.
“I’m sure it’s tough sitting out,” Laviolette said previously of the young forward. “Every player wants to play and that’s a good thing. He’s just got to keep working hard and wait for his chance.”
That chance has arrived as the Capitals told traveling reporters that Oshie will be out indefinitely with a lower-body injury. He’ll skate with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson on the team’s second line. He’s played just over 34 minutes with Kuznetsov at five-on-five in his career with rather good results in terms of expected goals for percentage (57.2%).
readying up in raleigh pic.twitter.com/fBZVbEfWUh
— Washington Capitals 🎃 (@Capitals) October 31, 2022
On defense, John Carlson will not play in Carolina as he’s day-to-day with his a lower-body injury. Matt Irwin will jump into the open spot in the pairings. Monday night will be his first action of the season after appearing in 17 games last season in a very similar plug-and-play emergency role.
The injury to the Caps’ number-one defender has forced Trevor van Riemsdyk into a first-pairing promotion alongside Dmitry Orlov. The two haven’t shared the ice a ton since TVR arrived in DC (96:46 5v5 TOI) but the team has been successful in the minutes they’ve shared. That’s shown via a 51-percent shot attempt percentage, a 51.4-percent expected goals-for percentage, a 57.6-percent scoring chance-for percentage, and a 53.6-percent high-danger chance-for percentage.
Both Carlson and Oshie are the main components of the Capitals’ first power-play unit. With them missing, both power-play groups had to change. Here is how they’ll look via The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir.
PP1: Ovechkin, Strome, Johansson, Orlov and Sheary
PP2: Kuznetsov, Mantha, Protas, Gustafsson and TvR#Caps— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) October 31, 2022
Conor Sheary, who shares the team lead in goal scoring with Alex Ovechkin, jumps to the top group after Kuznetsov initially filled in there during the game against Nashville. TVR, who is a central component of the team’s penalty kill (22 shorthanded minutes), will take on even more responsibility on the other side of the special team’s duel.
El-Bashir also reports that Darcy Kuemper was the first netminder off of the ice at the skate. Kuemper will make his third-straight start after recording his first-ever shutout with the Caps against the Predators. He currently sports a 4-3 record with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.
The Hurricanes will enter the Metropolitan Division battle one point ahead of the Caps in the standings with one fewer game played. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers in overtime in their last time out.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
