ARLINGTON, V.A. — After a disappointing loss in the series opener, the Washington Capitals made some changes to the lineup, with Spencer Carbery choosing to scratch Ryan Leonard for Taylor Raddysh to give the third line a new look.
It wasn't an easy decision for the bench boss, but one he felt was necessary for his group. Washington ultimately won Game 2, and following the victory, Carbery further explained his choice to sit the rookie.
"The biggest decision is Lenny being a young player coming into the league in the series that he's in, just giving him the opportunity to take a breath, watch a game,' Carbery said. "Taylor Raddysh has been here all year, he's played well for us, he's helped us... he'ss earned an opportunity to get into the lineup. Has he been out? Yep, he's been a good soldier, he's worked hard. Nothing more than that."
Raddysh took Leonard's place on the third line alongside Andrew Mangiapane and Lars Eller, and as a whole, the trio didn't get a lot of ice time.
Eller logged the least amount of ice time on the team, skating just 9:06 minutes, while Raddysh skated just a handful of seconds more.
"Last night was a little bit tough. They have that shift that getting sort of two-plus minutes. Then, we’re sort of on our heels in the third period after that shift, so now we essentially go to three lines at that point," Carbery said.
Carbery said a lot of it had to do with proper deployment rather than performance, with the Capitals putting out their shutdown players to protect the one-goal lead in the third.
"At this time of year, when you get into these moments, one-goal games, from a coach deployment, there are timeouts that go into play and you’re going basically with your penalty kill guys protecting a lead and spot some other guys in at certain points," Carbery said.
Overall, despite the lack of usage, Carbery said Eller has "been solid" and that he's liked what he's seen so far this postseason from that line.
"I thought (his) line with ‘Leno’ and ‘Mang’, I thought they’ve done a good job... I thought they’ve given us solid minutes and we’re going to need more of it, to be honest with you, with now going on the road and playing down in Carolina," Carbery noted.
That said, Leonard could eventually draw back in, and Carbery will be looking to that trio to make noise regardless of who's on that right wing.
"So, whether it’s Lars, ‘Raddy,' ‘Mang,' whatever that line looks like, it’s an important line for our group," Carbery said. "I think them continuing to give us good, solid, reliable minutes and being able to control play in their minutes is important."