The Washington Capitals are retooling their lines again ahead of their second game against the Penguins this season. The middle six is where the most change has happened.
Head coach Peter Laviolette has bumped Daniel Sprong up to the second line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jakub Vrana. Laviolette has also placed TJ Oshie on the third with Lars Eller and Richard Panik.
Interesting lines at AM skate today for the Capitals:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Sprong
Panik-Eller-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-HathawayOrlov-Carlson
Dillon-Schultz
Chara-Jensen— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 19, 2021
Tom Wilson, who was double shifted last game, was returned to the top line with Nicklas Backstrom and Alex Ovechkin after spending some time early this season on the second.
Laviolette was recently critical of how few shot attempts the team has generated early in the season. After the morning skate, he praised the work Eller and Panik has done and explained that the changes were done to give the lineup more balance.
“First of all, I think Richard Panik has played really well. And I think Lars Eller’s last two games have been excellent,” Laviolette said per The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir. “So trying them with TJ (Oshie) is just a different switch to see where it is. It gives us a balance on all four lines. Obviously, different roles for different lines but for me those two players (Panik and Eller) have played well and putting them with TJ is an opportunity for them to continue to push, not only play well defensively but to push a little bit more offensively.
Vitek Vanecek will also make the second start of his career.
Rookie goaltender Vitek Vanecek off the ice first after morning skate. Vanecek made 30 saves in his NHL debut Friday night. He spent a lot of 1v1 time with goalie coach Scott Murray at the end of today's skate. https://t.co/3UjfkwH2qp
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 19, 2021
He stopped 96.8 percent of the shots he faced in his NHL debut on Friday.
Vanecek will get his second start of the season tonight in Pittsburgh, Laviolette said. The rookie is 1-0-0 w/ a .968 save percentage and 1.00 goals against average.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) January 19, 2021
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
