The Washington Capitals are losers of three straight and to avoid a fourth loss in a row they’ll need to beat the Arizona Coyotes in DC on Saturday night. The team held their morning skate before their date with the Yotes and it appears a Caps debut is set for the game.
Mid-season acquisition and recent recall from Hershey, Sonny Milano joined line rushes for the first time this season. He skated on the left wing of the second line with Dylan Strome and Marcus Johansson.
Here is how the entire team lined up via The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir.
#Caps lines and pairs ahead of ARI:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Milano-Strome-Johansson
McMichael-Eller-Mantha
Protas-Dowd-HathawayOrlov-TvR
Fehervary-Jensen
Gustafsson-Irwin— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 5, 2022
Milano is primed for his first NHL action this season after being signed by the Capitals when the team lost forwards Brett Leason and Axel Jonsson-Fjallby to waiver claims in early October. He scored 14 goals and tallied 34 total points in 66 games for the Anaheim Ducks last season, skating a bunch with talented forwards Rickard Rakell and Trevor Zegras.
“He’s a guy that’s proven that he can produce at the NHL level,” Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said Saturday. “He had a good year last year in Anaheim offensively and he started well down in Hershey. So we’re going to give him an opportunity tonight.”
The inclusion of the Caps’ latest addition in Milano means Joe Snively will return to the press box after skating on the fourth line in a loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday. Aliaksei Protas will replace Snively in that key left-wing spot on the team’s primary checking line. The big Belorussian forward has some experience in the role after teaming up with Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway earlier in the season against the Ottawa Senators.
Fans are ready to see what Milano can do. #Caps pic.twitter.com/ygCw86PcPd
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 5, 2022
El-Bashir also reported that injured defenseman John Carlson was on the ice for the skate for the first time since being injured in a game against the Nashville Predators on October 29. While that is a good sign for his recovery, Carlson was placed on injured reserve and is not eligible to return until Monday’s game against the Edmonton Oilers.
That news means the team will go with the same defensive pairings they have had since Carlson exited the lineup. The man defending the net behind them will be Darcy Kuemper as he was the first netminder off of the ice Saturday morning. The matchup will be Kuemper’s first against his former teammates from Arizona as a member of the Capitals.
The Caps will don their new, black Reverse Retro jerseys for the first time this season during the game. It will be the first of seven games they wear them in.
Paint It ⚫️#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/JhF8MdYj0T
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 5, 2022
The Coyotes will come into Saturday night’s action winners of just three games so far to kick off their 2022-23 campaign. In their last time out, they were 7-2 losers to the Dallas Stars on home ice.
