Recently-acquired forward Carl Hagelin hit the ice at KeyBank Center for his first practice as a Washington Capital on Friday.
Hagelin joined Nic Dowd and Chandler Stephenson on the fourth line.
By Donya Abramo 4 weeks ago
During All-Star Weekend, Braden Holtby suggested to John Carlson, the winner of the NHL’s Hardest Shot competition, that he should replace Alex Ovechkin on the left dot of the powerplay.
“Yeah. I should, yeah,” Carlson responded smiling. “I don’t know if he’d like it though.”
With Ovechkin suspended Friday for skipping the league’s All-Star Game, Carlson had a chance to do so against the Calgary Flames, but Capitals head coach Todd Reirden has other ideas.
Right wing TJ Oshie will move to the Ovi Spot™ on the Caps first powerplay unit.
By Julia Karron 2 months ago
Following their fourth straight loss, the Washington Capitals have drastically shuffled lines at Saturday morning’s practice. Having scored just four goals in those four losses, the team appears desperate for more offense.
And oh, by the way, Evgeny Kuznetsov has been demoted to the third line.
By Ian Oland 2 months ago
Defenseman Matt Niskanen is not expected to play against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday night, and the Washington Capitals will have to change their defensive pairings accordingly. Niskanen did participate in his first morning skate after sustaining a scary upper-body injury during Thursday’s 3-1 victory over the Hurricanes but is still listed as day-to-day.
The Capitals’ forward lines remain the same. Pheonix Copley will get the start in net, giving Braden Holtby the night off. Copley got his first career shutout against the bottom-dwelling Senators the last time these two teams met.
By Alex Hayes 3 months ago
After losing 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday, Capitals’ head coach Todd Reirden is altering his lines — albeit subtly.
Andre Burakovsky will be back in the lineup for Friday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres.
It will be Burakovsky’s first game in nearly two weeks — a December 8 game against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
By Alex Hayes 3 months ago
On Friday the Capitals shook up their lines following Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers. Most notably, Jakub Vrana earned a promotion to the first line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
Andre Burakovsky replaces Vrana on the second line after a strong couple games on the fourth line. Burakovsky scored his first goal of the season Thursday night in Edmonton.
On the blue line, Madison Bowey works his way into the line up, as Christian Djoos misses out with his first healthy scratch of the season.
By Alex Hayes 5 months ago
On Saturday, the Capitals tweaked their lines at practice following their 7-6 overtime loss against the Penguins. Dmitrij Jaskin replaced Nathan Walker on the fourth line during practice rushes ahead of a possible debut on Wednesday against the Golden Nights at Capital One Arena.
The rest of the forward lines and defensive pairs remain unchanged.
By Alex Hayes 6 months ago
The Washington Capitals defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-0 in Game Six, riding two goals from TJ Oshie and a tally from Devante Smith-Pelly. The hard-hitting affair, which saw the Caps dole out 39 hits to Tampa’s 19, was one of the most physical games of the NHL season.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Lightning out-attempted the Caps at five-on-five 53-50 with this lineup, but the Caps outshot the Lightning 34-24 and had more high-danger chances 14-10.
Barry Trotz will be keeping the team’s lines the same ahead of Game Seven. The Lightning get last change and will have more control of matchups. The winner of tonight’s game will advance to the Stanley Cup Final.
Tonight, the Washington Capitals are facing elimination for the very first time of the 2018 postseason (wow) and head coach Barry Trotz is not messing around in his top six.
Trotz changed up the lines and his lineup for Game Six.
The Washington Capitals are in Tampa Bay ready to face off against the Lightning in Game One of the Eastern Conference Final.
Here’s a look at the ever-changing lines from the morning skate.
By Elyse Bailey 11 months ago
