The Washington Capitals will celebrate Alex Ovechkin breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goals record with a pregame ceremony on Thursday night, but after that, they will turn their focus towards the playoffs. The Caps have won just five of their last 10 games and haven’t strung together two wins in a row since mid-March.
After the team’s 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders last Sunday, head coach Spencer Carbery has reconfigured his lineup to try and spark some new energy against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. The primary change, now that the team is without top-six winger, Aliaksei Protas, due to injury, is moving Taylor Raddysh up onto the club’s top line with Ovechkin and Dylan Strome.
Lines
Despite being Carbery’s first choice to come out of the Capitals’ lineup for Ryan Leonard’s first NHL games, Raddysh will get his second look on Ovechkin and Strome’s line this season. The three had moderate success five-on-five in their first go-around, seeing a 12-4 advantage in shots and 64.1 percent of the expected goals in 17:31 of joint ice time. However, the Caps were just even, 2-2, in goals scored.
Raddysh has 27 points (7g, 20a) in 75 games this year, primarily playing in the Capitals’ bottom six. He has not scored a goal in his last eight games and has just three goals in his last 51 appearances.
The fourth line, consisting of Brandon Duhaime, Nic Dowd, and Anthony Beauvillier, is the only line that remains intact. Raddysh’s promotion has forced Leonard down onto the third line with Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane. Tom Wilson will also move down, playing with a familiar combination of Connor McMichael and Pierre-Luc Dubois on the second line.
McMichael, PLD, and Wilson have formed a very formidable trio this season at five-on-five. During their 351:49 of five-on-five ice time together, the Capitals have seen 51.9 percent of shot attempts, 53.3 percent of expected goals, 55.2 percent of scoring chances, and 53.7 percent of high-danger chances.
Charlie Lindgren will make his third straight start and fifth straight appearance against the Hurricanes. The 31-year-old netminder has not been good in April, posting a 2-1 record in four appearances with a 3.27 goals-against average and a .862 save percentage. He beat the Hurricanes 3-1 on December 20, stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced.
The Hurricanes have lost three games in a row since running roughshod over the Caps in a 5-1 home win last week. They have just one goal in their last two games.
