The Washington Capitals took the ice for practice on Wednesday, but not at their usual digs. Alex Ovechkin and crew skated at the Talbot County Ice Skating Rink in Easton, Maryland. The team made the trip out to the Eastern Shore for team bonding on Monday afternoon.
The Capitals golfed during their day off on Tuesday, but got back to business today as they prepare to open their season at home on Friday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The team officially announced their Opening Night roster hours before the practice, and made updates to their lines in what could be a preview of the lineup Spencer Carbery could deploy in his first official NHL game as bench boss.
The most notable change was the addition of Anthony Mantha back into the fray on the right wing of the fourth line.
Here are the full lines and defense pairings provided by Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir.
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Milano-Strome-Protas
Malenstyn-Dowd-Mantha
Extra: Phillips
Sandin-Carlson
Johansen-Jensen
Fehervary-TVR
Extra: Alexeyev
Mantha jumps onto the fourth line after spending a handful of skates as the team’s 13th forward. His promotion back into the group means that preseason star Matthew Phillips could end up sitting after making the NHL team out of Training Camp.
Phillips, not Mantha, played in the Capitals’ final preseason test against the Columbus Blue Jackets, a game that was considered to be a dress rehearsal for Opening Night. Phillips recorded three points (2g, 1a) in his five preseason outings while Mantha chipped in one assist in his four games.
Mantha has spent limited time skating with Nic Dowd at five-on-five over the past three years, sharing the ice with him for 75:46 of ice time. The Capitals have been successful with them on the ice in those minutes, seeing 52.7 percent of the shot attempts, 55.9 percent of the expected goals, 52.4 percent of the scoring chances, and 66.4 percent of the high-danger chances. If any player can revive Mantha after an offseason where he was being openly shopped by the team, it could be Dowd with those sort of past results.
The shifting around on the fourth line has moved Aliaksei Protas up into the top-nine and onto a third line with Sonny Milano and Dylan Strome. That trio is brand new, never skating any meaningful five-on-five time together as a unit under Peter Laviolette last year.
Carbery has spoken recently about Protas’ versatility being a potential boon for the team moving forward. “[It helps us] big time,” Carbery said. “Big time. Being able to move around center, wing, sort of like McMichael, penalty kill, power play — that’s a huge asset when you get into the thick of things in the season and you’re dealing with injuries, roster, cap stuff.”
Protas was in agreement earlier in camp. “Overall, I think I should get used to just fill the spots and be ready to play everywhere,” he said. “Wherever coach want me to be, I will just be there and compete. Gotta compete for all twelve spots, basically. Gotta be ready to play.”
On defense, nothing has changed from the last time that we saw the team on the ice, outside of Hardy Haman Aktell being sent down to the AHL’s Hershey Bears. 2016 first-round draft pick Lucas Johansen appears to have the upper hand on 2018 first-round pick Alex Alexeyev on the left side of the Capitals’ defense depth chart. Johansen, like Phillips, has made the NHL team out of camp for the first time in his career.
“It felt good,” Johansen told NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti. “I’ve been wanting this for a long time.”
Darcy Kuemper is in line for his second-straight, season-opening start with the Capitals after signing with the team in free agency the summer of 2022. Kuemper posted a 22-26-7 record with a 2.85 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in his first campaign with the team.
The team that Kuemper will attempt to keep out of his net, the Penguins, dropped their first game of the season to the Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 on Tuesday.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
