Here's what to know as the Capitals prepare to make do without Dylan Strome
ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals are making some big-time changes to the lineup with Dylan Strome dealing with a lower-body injury, as Connor McMichael and Ryan Leonard earned promotions to the top line.
Both will skate alongside Alex Ovechkin with Strome officially listed as day-to-day and not making the trip to Dallas.
For Leonard, it's an opportunity he could have never have imagined.
"When you have a chance to play alongside one of the greats of all time, you try not to take it for granted," Leonard said.
With McMichael moving up, Hendrix Lapierre has moved back to center, with Justin Sourdif reuniting with Nic Dowd and Brandon Duhaime on the fourth line to try and spark that trio. Ethen Frank is also up from Hershey to help fill the void up front.
"As a group, each guy's got to work together and work a little bit harder to take on some of that responsibility and work together to fill that void," Tom Wilson said. "That's why it's a team game. One guy goes down, everybody's just got to work a little bit harder and step up a little bit."
On defense, Rasmus Sandin remains out and day-to-day, and is officially on the injured reserve retroactive to Oct. 21. He's eligible to be activated as soon as Friday, and continues to skate on his own.
Neither he nor Strome will travel to Dallas.
Here are the full combinations:
Alex Ovechkin-Connor McMichael-Ryan Leonard
Aliaksei Protas-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier-Hendrix Lapierre-Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Justin Sourdif
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun-Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren