The Capitals made some big line changes on Tuesday.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals prevailed for their first win of the season on Monday, but amid some struggles getting things going, head coach Spencer Carbery chose to shake things up.
Washington shuffled all of its forward lines and defensive pairings as Carbery put different names together in an attempt to ignite a spark.
The Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie line was separated after two games. Ovechkin, who didn't record a shot on goal on Monday, was put with Dylan Strome and Tom Wilson, T.J. Oshie worked with Connor McMichael and Evgeny Kuznetsov and Nicklas Backstrom centered Sonny Milano and Matthew Phillips. The fourth line saw Anthony Mantha draw in and Aliaksei Protas move to center with Nic Dowd taking a maintenance day.
In addition, the defensive pairings shuffled, with John Carlson also missing Tuesday's practice for maintenance. Rasmus Sandin worked with Alex Alexeyev, Martin Fehervary worked with Trevor van Riemsdyk and Lucas Johansen operated with Nick Jensen.
Here are the full combinations:
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael-Evgeny Kuznetsov-T.J. Oshie
Sonny Milano-Nicklas Backstrom-Matthew Phillips
Beck Malenstyn-Aliaksei Protas-Anthony Mantha
Rasmus Sandin-Alex Alexeyev
Martin Fehervary-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Lucas Johansen-Nick Jensen
Darcy Kuemper
Clay Stevenson
Charlie Lindgren also missed practice and remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
The line changes come with Washington managing just 42 total shots to open the season. In the first period against the Calgary Flames, the Capitals had just three shots on goal. Matthew Phillips and Connor McMichael were the two goal scorers, and Evgeny Kuznetsov secured the victory with the shootout winner.
Washington will take its new combinations up north for a tilt with the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.