The Washington Capitals are going back to a familiar top-six forward group against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. After a two-game experiment saw Pierre-Luc Dubois center Alex Ovechkin on the team’s top line, head coach Spencer Carbery is reverting back to how Washington started the 2024-25 season.
Dylan Strome is set to line up with Ovechkin and Aliaksei Protas again, while Dubois will reunite with Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson. Carbery initially went back to the well with the two lines late in Thursday night’s 1-0 win against the Ottawa Senators.
“I anticipate it staying the same [as it finished against Ottawa],” Carbery said Saturday morning.
Projected lines against Penguins
Ovechkin had been paired exclusively with Strome for the first 27 games he played this season. The Capitals had a lot of success with the two on the ice at five-on-five early in the campaign, outscoring their opposition 23-9. However, after Ovechkin returned to Washington’s lineup from his broken leg, their chemistry faded.
During Ovechkin and Strome’s joint five-on-five minutes in those last nine games, the Capitals saw just 42.1 percent of shot attempts, 32.3 percent of expected goals, 35.2 percent of scoring chances, and 27.3 percent of high-danger chances. Their previous strong results completely flipped, getting outscored 4-2.
Ovechkin’s stint with Dubois was short, lasting just 20:58 of total ice time in the last two games. Their results were good, primarily fueled by beating up on the lowly Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night. With the two on the ice at five-on-five, the Capitals out-attempted Anaheim and Ottawa 21-19 and saw 51.4 percent of the expected goals.
Dubois, McMichael, and Wilson have been Carbery’s most trusted line this season, and for good reason. While playing some of the toughest minutes on the team against the opposition’s top players, the Capitals have garnered 53.8 percent of the scoring chances, 53.3 percent of the high-danger chances, and 53.2 percent of the expected goals with the three on the ice at five-on-five.
Carbery used the Dubois line to match Sidney Crosby’s line in the Capitals’ first meeting with the Penguins this season. Washington won the matchup handily, seeing positive differentials in shot attempts (+5), scoring chances (+6), and high-danger chances (+4). The Capitals scored a goal during their shared time on ice and didn’t allow a single Pittsburgh scoring chance.
