The Capitals are out to show that Friday's loss was a one-off, and they'll kick off their road swing with a tilt against the Sharks. Here's everything to know.
The Washington Capitals are eager to show that Friday's ugly loss was nothing more than a one-off, and they'll look to show that and get back to their winning ways against the San Jose Sharks on Monday.
Here's everything to know before puck drop.
Washington Capitals Lines & Injury Report
After Friday's 5-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, head coach Spencer Carbery went back to the drawing board and drastically shook up the lines in hopes to spark the offense and get back to establishing an identity up front.
As a result, Hendrix Lapierre and Matthew Phillips will draw back into the lineup, with Phillips taking Oshie's spot on the second line and Lapierre moving to the third-line center role.
With Lapierre back in, Connor McMichael moved into Anthony Mantha's spot at 2LW, while No. 39 was slotted into Nicolas Aube-Kubel's spot on the fourth line right wing alongside Nic Dowd and Beck Malenstyn. Aube-Kubel will be the only healthy scratch up front.
Meanwhile, on the blue line, Washington will finally see all six of its regular defensemen take the ice together for the first time this season, with Martin Fehervary making his return from injury. Alex Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen are the healthy scratches on the backend.
Darcy Kuemper will get the start.
Here are the lines:
Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael-Dylan Strome-Matthew Phillips
Sonny Milano-Hendrix Lapierre-Aliaksei Protas
Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Anthony Mantha
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Nick Jensen
Joel Edmundson-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
To open a spot for Fehervary, T.J. Oshie, who didn't make the road trip, was placed on injured reserve. He, along with Max Pacioretty (Achilles, LTIR) and Nicklas Backstrom (hip, LTIR/indefinite leave of absence), are the only injured players on the roster.
Washington Capitals Keys To Success
Scoring will be the key to a win in the Shark Tank on Monday. The Capitals failed to generate any offense against Stuart Skinner and the Oilers and the hope is that the new combinations will open up more 5-on-5 scoring chances.
Above all, though, the power play is the glaring issue that needs fixing. Washington's man advantage is 3-for-50 this season and has gone the last 10 games without a power-play goal, and its 6 percent success rate on the PP ranks dead last in the league.
San Jose's penalty kill ranks third-to-last (72 percent), and the Capitals need to take advantage of that. Carbery also made some adjustments to the team's 5-on-4 approach over the weekend, so capitalizing on that change and the Sharks' weak PK is vital.
A strong start is also key against SJ, a team that's figured it out and is playing well at home following a disappointing start to the 2023-24 campaign. The Capitals have started on the wrong foot the last two games, so getting back on track with a strong start will be critical to boot.
Washington Capitals Players To Watch
- Carbery praised Phillips for his performance back on Oct. 29 against the Sharks, so look for him to make an impact in his first game back in the lineup. The same goes for Lapierre, who was a healthy scratch last game but is looking to extend his NHL stay however he can.
- John Carlson leads all NHLers in ice time per game with 26:13 minutes a night, while Rasmus Sandin ranks second in the league in 5-on-5 ice time per game (20:29).
- Dylan Strome has three points in his last three games.
- Alex Ovechkin loves scoring on the road (421 goals have come away from home), and he has 16 goals and 12 assists for 28 points in 27 games all-time against the Sharks. Look for him to try and make his mark.
Puck drop is at 10:30 p.m. ET at SAP Center.