The Washington Capitals have just two preseason games remaining before they need to have their set roster together for Opening Night against the Pittsburgh Penguins on October 13. The Caps got home late from their most recent test on the road against the Boston Bruins and the lines and defense pairings at Wednesday’s practice reflected that.
While many of the players involved in that game got the day off from the skate, Connor McMichael, who was perhaps the star of the matchup was on the ice and in a big role. The 22-year-old forward took up center duties between Alex Ovechkin and Ivan Miroshnichenko.
Here is how all of the somewhat short-staffed group of lines and pairings shook out:
Ovechkin-McMichael-Miroshnichenko
Snively-Lapierre-NAK
Mantha-Protas-Phillips
Malenstyn-Sgarbossa-Limoges
Alexeyev-Jensen
Fehervary-McIlrath
Johansen-Haman Aktell
Oshie-Iorio
McMichael has stepped into his natural center position after impressing head coach Spencer Carbery with his big night in Boston on the wing of a second line also featuring Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson. The 2019 first-round draft pick scored the opening goal of the Caps’ eventual 5-4 overtime win and fired a game-high 10 shots on goal.
The Caps have always planned to get McMichael some reps at center. “He might be playing wing to start but eventually we’re going to get him to center at some point,” general manager Brian MacLellan said at the start of camp. “I don’t know the timeframe on it. He had a good year last year – really happy about his progress.”
The other players that dressed for the game against the Bruins and Wednesday’s practice include Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Anthony Mantha, Aliaksei Protas, Matthew Phillips, Beck Malenstyn, Hardy Haman Aktell, Lucas Johansen, and Vincent Iorio. All names that seem to still be fighting for some of the final spots on the team’s roster for the regular season.
Carbery explained some of the weird quirks of the squad that took the ice, including TJ Oshie playing defense, in his post practice media availability.
“We’re just trying to get guys reps because it’s a little bit of a difficult day with some guys that didn’t play last night and we’re integrating some guys that did play last night with sort of an eye on tomorrow night and what that lineup looks like,” Spencer Carbery explained to RMNB’s Katie Adler. “So we were just trying to throw it together. The focus today in practice is trying to get the guys that didn’t play last night more reps in every situation we can. Just workload and the guys that played got home at one in the morning and to try and alleviate some of the workload for them today.”
The goaltenders that skated at the practice were Charlie Lindgren, Hunter Shepard, and Clay Stevenson. Given that Darcy Kuemper started and played the entire game against the Bruins, it’s likely that Lindgren gets his second full game of the preseason on Thursday.
Top prospect Ivan Miroshnichenko, who had a two-point NHL preseason debut, looks like he may dress against the Columbus Blue Jackets as well. Same goes for Nick Jensen who has not played yet this preseason as he missed a few days for personal reasons.
The Caps will travel to Columbus on Thursday for another 7 pm puck drop. They’ll meet Columbus back in DC for their preseason finale on Saturday.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
