The Washington Capitals’ lineup will look a little more familiar against the New York Islanders on Monday night but without a vital member of the 2018 Stanley Cup championship team.
Via reporting from the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, third-line center Lars Eller will be the latest prominent name to sit as the Capitals work Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson back.
The Capitals took line rushes like this the morning skate and this is how they lined up per Pell.
Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary
Mantha-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Johansson-Dowd-Hathaway
Gustafsson-TvR
Orlov-Jensen
Irwin-Fehervary
The most notable changes come in the center ranks. Dylan Strome will get a sweater after sitting in the Capitals’ 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Laviolette placed Strome in the first-line center spot where he’s spent most of the season and had a lot of success.
The Capitals’ first line of Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary has a 55.1 expected-goals percent, which ranks 16th best amongst lines in the NHL that have played 200 minutes together at 5v5 per Money Puck. The line has scored together 10 times at 5v5 and limited its opponents to seven goals.
Evgeny Kuznetsov will center a dynamic second line featuring Anthony Mantha on the left and TJ Oshie on the right. The three have only played 19 minutes together this season, putting up a meager 44.8 shot attempts percentage. But the line has scored together once and not given up a goal during that time.
Eller will leave the third line and give way to a more offensive-focused third line. Backstrom will center Sonny Milano and Tom Wilson. With Eller the apparent scratch, the Danish center will be the third prominent top-nine forward to be sat since 19 and 43 returned, getting the distinction along with Mantha (2) and Strome (1). He’ll join Nicolas Aube-Kube, and Alex Alexeyev in the press box of UBS Arena.
The fourth-line will go back to Nic Dowd between Marcus Johansson and Garnet Hathaway. This is the only line that’s seen consistency since Backstrom and Wilson came back, playing in two of the previous three games together.
Monday’s game will mark the first of four meetings between the Capitals and Islanders this season. Per Capitals PR, the Capitals are 8-4-0 in their last 12 games against the Islanders. The Islanders sit three standings points behind the Capitals in the standings for the first wild card spot.
