The Washington Capitals blew out the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first game of their home and home set, but they did not come out of the 5-1 victory unscathed.
Waiver-wire pickup Nicolas Aube-Kubel was suspended three games for his illegal check to the head on Lightning defenseman Cal Foote.
At Sunday’s morning skate in Tampa, the Caps turned to Connor McMichael to fill NAK’s vacant spot on the third line.
McMichael’s inclusion in the lineup is the only change the team, currently led by assistant coach Kevin McCarthy, made from their previous game. Here are the lines via the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell.
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Milano-Strome-Johansson
McMichael-Eller-Mantha
Protas-Dowd-Hathaway
Gustafsson-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Irwin-TVR
McMichael has played in just four games so far this season and the last time he was in the lineup was against the Arizona Coyotes on November 5. He skated over 10 minutes in that game for the first time since the final game of the 2021-22 regular season. He is yet to record a point in his sophomore campaign.
“I think Mikey has just gotta continue to play and look to create,” head coach Peter Laviolette said on November 3. “He gets those opportunities, it’s five-on-five. It’s not on the power play or the penalty kill at this point. Just continue to look to push the game offensively and be good defensively.”
Pell also reports that injured defenseman Dmitry Orlov, who traveled with the team for their three-game road trip, was on the ice but did not take line rushes with the defensive pairs. That indicates he’s unlikely to play Sunday night.
Orlov has not got a sweater since getting injured on November 5 against the Coyotes. In his place, depth rearguard Matt Irwin will get into his eighth game of the year. By this time last season, Irwin had yet to play a single minute.
Jumping off the ice first among the team’s two goaltenders was Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper made 28 stops on 29 shots against Tampa Bay on Friday and skyrocketed himself back to just outside the top five in MoneyPuck’s goals saved above expected. His 6.0 mark there leaves him behind only Jake Oettinger (7.3), Karel Vejmelka (8.4), Ilya Sorokin (10.1), Connor Hellebuyck (10.5), and Carter Hart (15.6).
There could be fireworks tonight. The Caps and Lightning’s first game featured a line brawl, two ten-minute misconducts, six fighting majors, four roughing penalties, and an ejection. Alex Ovechkin also injured two Lightning defensemen with one-timers on the power play. The Lightning will look to avoid losing three in a row while the Caps will look to start a winning streak.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
