The Washington Capitals have lost five games in a row and have a tough test ahead of them on Thursday night in the Florida Panthers. After a 5-2 loss to the Montreal Canadiens coming out of an extended nine-day break, head coach Spencer Carbery made some tweaks to his lineup.
Matthew Phillips, who hasn’t played in a game since January 3, draws back into the fray in the Capitals’ first outing in front of their dads, brothers, and other mentors on the 2024 Mentors’ Trip. Phillips will join Beck Malenstyn and Nic Dowd on the team’s checking line as Nicolas Aube-Kubel goes to the press box for the night.
The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson tweeted out the news after the Capitals’ morning skate.
In Phillips’ last game, he skated 11:51 of ice time in a 6-3 loss to the New Jersey Devils. The rookie winger does not have a point in his last eight games and on the season has five points (1g, 4a) in 26 games. Phillips has rarely shared the ice with Malenstyn and Dowd at five-on-five this season. The three have just 3:09 of combined ice time over 17 games.
Aube-Kubel comes out of the lineup after a game against the Habs that saw him skate the fewest amount of any Capitals player (8:09). NAK’s rough turnover in the first period on Tuesday night gave Montreal the opening goal in what would become a three-goal, first-period hole for Washington.
After sitting out the last two games, defenseman Ethan Bear will also jump back into the picture. Bear and Trevor van Riemsdyk will continue their recent swapping in and out of the lineup after TVR was a minus-2 against Montreal and skated 19:52 of ice time.
This will be Bear’s 13th game of the season with the Capitals after signing with the team in December. Things haven’t exactly gone the way the 26-year-old blueliner would want to start his tenure with the club. The Capitals see just 40.7 percent of the shot attempts, 32.1 percent of the expected goals, 34 percent of the scoring chances, and 35.8 percent of the high-danger chances with Bear on the ice at five-on-five.
The final lineup change will come in net as Darcy Kuemper gets the nod ahead of Charlie Lindgren. Lindgren was pulled by Carbery against Montreal after giving up three goals on just nine shots. Kuemper stopped 15 of 17 shots in the relief appearance.
Florida also lost their first game coming out of the break, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. The Panthers currently sit third in the Eastern Conference with 66 points, one point back of the New York Rangers for second.
