Capitals coach Spencer Carbery has some tweaks planned for Friday's tilt in Newark.
With the Washington Capitals still struggling to score goals, head coach Spencer Carbery is going back to the drawing board and shaking things up again for a Friday night showdown with the New Jersey Devils.
Carbery provided a bit of a glimpse at possible changes to come back on Wednesday, as he flipped centers Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dylan Strome halfway through the team's 4-3 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers, as Kuznetsov finished the game skating between Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson while Strome went to operate with Sonny Milano and T.J. Oshie.
It's unclear if those combinations will be the same ones that go against New Jersey, though.
"We're still just trying to find something that really essentially gets going there offensively, that really breaks out with a couple, two, three 5-on-5 goals, something like that, to where a line that really asserts themselves and takes over a game for us and we’re trying to find that," Carbery explained to reporters after the morning skate in Newark. "So we’ll move some things around at the center position try to find that right combination."
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson is a familiar line for the organization, one that made a statement with its talent and helped lead the way in the team's 2018 Stanley Cup run. However, it hasn't been able to maintain that level of sustainability over time.
While Carbery isn't expecting a long-term fix to the team's problems, he did note that esetablishing some kind of stability up front could lead to a solution.
"It looks like it’s just if there’s one thing that’s consistent (about the Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson line), it’s inconsistent. They played together, then they don't.... I don't think it'll be any different this year, but who knows? Maybe they get on a run and a certain line has a 30, 40, 50-game stretch," Carbery said, but reiterated that it's all part of an ongoing process, "We'll move some things around."
Washington is trying everything to spark Ovechkin, who has just two goals through 11 games. Neither of those came at 5-on-5 and one was on an empty net. The chances have been there for the 38-year-old and he's shown some chemistry with Strome, but he just hasn't been able to find twine as his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky continues and looms larger with each game that goes by.
The third line was the only line to really break through for Washington on Wednseday, as the Anthony Mantha-Connor McMichael-Aliaksei Protas trio combined for two goals at 5-on-5 and one on the penalty kill. The Capitals will not be able to run with that trio, though, as Mantha is on the injured reserve after being struck in the head by a puck on Wednesday.
WIth Mantha out, Nicolas Aube-Kubel was called up from Hershey and will draw into the mix on Friday. Nic Dowd has also been activated from the injured reserve and will serve as the fourth-line center. That being said, it would appear that Hendrix Lapierre, who has been playing at 4C with Dowd hurting, is the odd-man out up front.
Puck drop between the Capitals and Devils is at 7 p.m. ET at Prudential Center.