The Washington Capitals traveled to Nashville after losing to the Montreal Canadiens in overtime on Friday night. The Caps will play the Predators in the second half of their back-to-back at Bridgestone Arena, but some major lineup questions are still yet to be answered before puck drop.
Washington placed goaltender Charlie Lindgren on injured reserve earlier on Saturday, recalling Hunter Shepard from the AHL’s Hershey Bears to replace him. Head coach Spencer Carbery chose not to reveal if Shepard would get the nod in net against Nashville during his pregame press conference.
“You will find out lineup and goaltender at warmup,” Carbery said.
Logan Thompson played an unexpected 38:46 of the game against the Canadiens after Lindgren was forced out by an upper-body injury. Thompson made 18 saves and took the overtime loss.
When asked if his personnel group would at least remain the same, the second-year bench boss gave a similar short response.
“We have extras on the trip, and so yeah, you’ll find out at warmup,” Carbery said.
The Capitals’ healthy scratches against Montreal included Jakub Vrana, Alex Alexeyev, and Dylan McIlrath.
One player who seems guaranteed to dress against the Predators is Ethen Frank, another recent recall from Hershey. Carbery called Frank “arguably our best player on the ice” after the speedy winger recorded his first NHL point against the Canadiens.
The Capitals were great with Frank on the ice during his debut. With the 26-year-old forward over the boards at five-on-five, they held positive differentials in shot attempts (+7), scoring chances (+1), and high-danger chances (+4).
“[I want to see him] replicate exactly what he did last night and be consistent with it,” Carbery said. “That’s his challenge, and that’s every young player in the National Hockey League. Usually, players can show you stretches of really good play and instances of where they absolutely are NHL players.
“The trick and the most difficult part is doing that consistently night to night, back-to-backs, 82 games, shift to shift. Hopefully, he can replicate a lot of the things he did last night, and we’ll get him right back in there.”
Nashville comes into the game well-rested, having had the last three days off after taking a 5-2 road loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. The Predators, 5-4-1 in their last 10 games, are in similar uneven form to the Capitals, 5-2-3 in their last 10 games.
The Predators will get Zachary L’Heureux back after he was suspended three games for slew-footing Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon. Per Emma Lingan, Steven Stamkos will also be a game-time decision after he left Nashville’s game against Winnipeg early with an injury.
Update (7:45 pm): Logan Thompson will start for the Capitals. Here’s the rest of tonight’s lineup.
Lineys!#CapsPreds | @JackDaniels_US pic.twitter.com/CSdJxhHWu5
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) January 12, 2025
