Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette seems to have found a lineup that he likes after five games of massive changes and uncertainty. Lavy has his forward group lined up for Thursday’s game against the Arizona Coyotes the same way he did against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday.
That news means that forward Anthony Mantha is slated to be a healthy scratch for the fourth time in six games. Mantha did not play against the Wild and has not skated in a game since Monday in New York.
The Capitals have lost three of their last five games since Backstrom and Wilson returned.
The Caps took line rushes at their morning skate and here’s how they looked via The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell.
Ovechkin-Strome-NAK
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Sheary-Eller-Oshie
Johansson-Kuznetsov-Hathaway
Gustafsson-TvR
Orlov-Jensen
Alexeyev-Fehervary
Mantha, who earns $5.7 million against the salary cap, has suffered the most from the return of Backstrom and Wilson. The big winger has recorded 23 points in 44 games for the Caps this season.
With Mantha remaining sidelined, Nicolas Aube-Kubel stays in and remains on the team’s top line with Alex Ovechkin and Dylan Strome. The newly formed trio had a very successful game against the Wild, with the Caps owning positive differentials in shot attempts (+6), scoring chances (+6), and high-danger chances (+5) in their 8:45 of five-on-five ice time.
“Last night we put together a lineup after playing the night before where we wanted speed and physicality,” Laviolette said Wednesday. “Kubel fit the bill. It was more about what he would bring to the table and I thought he played a pretty good game. I think he had four or five hits. His line had one of the goals and he was a big part of that.”
The Capitals’ second line of Sonny Milano, Nicklas Backstrom, and Tom Wilson will also stick together for the fourth game in a row. That combination has been very successful for the Caps in a small 32-minute sample size. With them on the ice at five-on-five, the Caps have seen 54.2 percent of the shot attempts, 66.4 percent of the expected goals, 52.1 percent of the scoring chances, and 66.5 percent of the high-danger chances.
Evgeny Kuznetsov will also remain as the fourth-line center with Nic Dowd missing his second game with a lower-body injury that he suffered via a Cal Clutterbuck hit on Long Island. Kuznetsov still managed to skate the second most of any forward (18:15) in his first game on the fourth line against Minnesota.
“Right now we’re managing the depth of our organization,” Laviolette also said. “For me, I didn’t have any reason to take anybody out. I think it’s uneasy – just one guy at a time here and we’ll just kinda move through until we figure it out. With regard to the lines, there are some things that I like.”
The only actual change from the group that took a 4-2 loss to the Wild on home ice is that defenseman Alex Alexeyev will draw back in for Matt Irwin. The young Russian defenseman has been scratched for the team’s last three games and last played on January 11 in a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers. Alexeyev has skated in ten total games in his rookie campaign.
We have arrived at “The Mullett.” pic.twitter.com/QFpUsuaqWO
— John Walton (@JohnWaltonPxP) January 19, 2023
Before defeating the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout on Tuesday, the Coyotes had lost nine games in a row. Even with that losing streak, they still sit five points above the Chicago Blackhawks for last in the NHL’s Central Division. Overall, they are the fourth-worst team in the league with a 14-25-5 record.
Arizona will start Karel Vejmelka in net. Vejmelka has a 1-2-0 career record vs Washington, but as Caps Radio’s Ben Raby reports, his .958 save percentage and 1.35 goals-against average in those games both rank as his personal best against any NHL opponent.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
