The Washington Capitals jumped on the ice this morning after losing four straight games in regulation and on a mission to not let that streak get to five. To do so, they’ll need to take down a hard-charging Detroit Red Wings team.
Head coach Peter Laviolette heavily shifted his forward lines and defense pairings at Monday’s practice. Those big changes will see their first game action on Tuesday night.
As a reminder, here is the full lineup from Monday.
Sheary-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Strome-Oshie
Eller/Milano-Backstrom-Johansson
NAK/Protas-Dowd-Hathaway
Orlov-TVR
Fehervary-Jensen
Gustafsson-McIlrath
Irwin-Alexeyev
Nic Dowd looks primed to get into his first game since getting injured against the New York Islanders on January 16. Dowd got into his first full practice without a non-contact jersey on Monday.
“He changed the color [of his jersey],” Laviolette said after that skate. “He’s involved in the lines. He is definitely getting closer.”
The Washington Post’s Roman Stubbs reports that the team is saying that the fourth-line will be a game-time decision. He was not one of the four players to take the scratches skate with backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren so his return seems even more likely.
To activate Dowd off of injured reserve, the Caps will have to send a player down to Hershey to free up a roster spot. Aliaksei Protas, Alex Alexeyev, Matt Irwin, and Nicolas Aube-Kubel all appear to be the healthy players that will miss this game as they took the extra skate with Lindgren. Protas is the easiest of the four to send to Hershey as he is still waivers exempt.
NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti reports that Laviolette said if Dowd plays that Lars Eller will shift to the wing. That would leave Eller-Dowd-Hathaway as the probable fourth line.
Darcy Kuemper was the first goaltender off of the ice so he will get his fourth-straight start. In the month of February, Kuemper is just 1-3 with a 3.05 goals-against average and a .906 save percentage.
The Red Wings will come into Tuesday night’s game sitting just two points behind the Capitals. They have three games in hand on the Caps and are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games. Safe to say this is an important one for both teams.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
