The Capitals have one last dress rehearsal on Saturday.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Things are starting to become clearer for the Washington Capitals with just a few days remaining in their training camp, as their roster for their preseason finale on Saturday features all but one regular in what will be a significant matchup with the Boston Bruins.
Head coach Spencer Carbery will run his preferred forward lines and defensive pairings against the Bruins, while Charlie Lindgren will play the full game in goal with Logan Thompson backing up.
Carbery's third line, though, remains a work in progress, as Andrew Cristall will get the last look there before the season skating alongside Hendrix Lapierre and Aliaksei Protas.
Sonny Milano, who was projected to be the left winger on that line going into camp, will sit out of the preseason finale. Meanwhile, fellow hopefuls Jakub Vrana and Ivan Miroshnichenko will also be healthy scratches as their respective preseason bids come to an end.
Both will have the last team practice on Monday at Capital One Arena to show what they can do. Vrana is still hoping he did enough to earn a contract, while Miroshnichenko wants to avoid being reassigned to the AHL to open the year. All the while, Milano will have to start turning up the heat to win his full-time post back.
On defense, Dylan McIlrath and Alex Alexeyev will sit out as the extras, roles they could start the season with if Carbery does indeed plan to go with eight defensemen and eight forwards to kick things off.
Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson will remain together on that top pairing, followed by Martin Fehervary with Matt Roy and Rasmus Sandin going to work with Trevor van Riemsdyk.
Here are the projected line combinations for Saturday:
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Andrew Mangiapane
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Andrew Cristall-Hendrix Lapierre-Aliaksei Protas
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh
Jakob Chychrun-John Carlson
Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson
Puck drop is at 5 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena.
READ MORE ON THE HOCKEY NEWS
- Capitals mailbag: Who wins the extra forward role, Ovechkin's PP time and more
- Jakub Vrana feeling the love as he attempts to come back to Capitals
- Andrew Cristall can either make the NHL or return to juniors, and he's leaning toward the former
- Capitals ink Eriks Mateiko to entry-level contract
- Logan Thompson's new Capitals mask pays homage to childhood, franchise history
- Alex Ovechkin discusses why scoring has become so much more difficult in today's game, not stressing over Wayne Gretzky's record