The Washington Capitals have a couple of lineup question marks heading into Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pierre-Luc Dubois and Rasmus Sandin will both be game-time decisions after they left Saturday’s game early due to injuries. Head coach Spencer Carbery announced the news during his pregame press conference.
“Both will be game-time decisions,” Carbery said.
Dubois played just 7:02 of ice time before leaving in the second period with an upper-body injury. He suffered the injury after assisting on a Ryan Leonard goal, careening into the end boards as Leonard directed his pass over the goal line.
Sandin was hurt later in the game, just 5:02 into the third period. As the Swedish defenseman tried to make his way through a faceoff scrum, he was clipped by a hip check from Penguins forward Justin Brazeau. Sandin crumpled to the ice and began writhing in pain as he grabbed at the back of his right leg.
Dubois had been centering a line between Leonard and Connor McMichael, while Sandin was skating on the Capitals’ top defense pairing with Martin Fehervary. The Capitals are carrying six total extra skaters on their current roster that didn’t play in Saturday’s game: David Kampf, Hendrix Lapierre, Ethen Frank, Timothy Liljegren, Declan Chisholm, and Dylan McIlrath.
Neither Dubois nor Sandin was photographed by the team as they walked into Capital One Arena on Sunday.
Carbery also revealed that the Capitals would be going back with number-one goaltender Logan Thompson in net on back-to-back days. Thompson only faced 12 shots in the 6-3 win on Saturday night, the fewest number of shots the Caps have allowed in a single game this season.
Charlie Lindgren is still not ready to serve as Thompson’s backup, so Clay Stevenson was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears to play that role on Sunday.
Update (2:43 pm): Dubois is in. Sandin is not and has been replaced by Timothy Liljegren.
