The Capitals will be without several key names against the high-flying Hurricanes.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals are in for a challenge on Friday, as they take on the Carolina Hurricanes with several key names out of the mix.
T.J. Oshie and Aliaksei Protas will be out as they nurse respective upper and lower-body injuries, and Tom Wilson will be out as he awaits his disciplinary hearing for high sticking Noah Gregor.
All three took part in the morning skate, though Oshie and Protas were ailing and did not stay on for extra work.
With all three forwards out of the mix, Washington has just the right amount of extras to fill the void, with Matthew Phillips being called back up after being re-claimed off waivers and extras Mike Sgarbossa and Nicolas Aube-Kubel on standby. Ethan Bear is the only healthy scratch.
For D.C., it will be the same "next man up" mindset that the team has been dealing with over the course of the year.
"It really sucks because Tom is a tremendous part of our team, but it's one of those situations where you face a little bit of adversity and you gotta see what people are made of," Hendrix Lapierre said. "We can step up and play a bigger role. It'll bea. good challenge for us."
Here are the projected lines:
Alex Ovechkin-Connor McMichael-Ivan Miroshnichenko
Mike Sgarbossa-Dylan Strome-Matthew Phillips
Max Pacioretty-Hendrix Lapierre-Sonny Milano
Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Nicolas Aube-Kubel
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Nick Jensen
Alex Alexeyev-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Darcy Kuemper will get the start with Charlie Lindgren having started 11 of the last 12 games and giving up seven goals on 29 shots back on Wednesday.