The Capitals will look a lot different when they face the Islanders on Friday as they look to get the offense going.
Washington Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery promised after Wednesday's 5-1 loss to the New York Rangers that he'd leave no stone unturned in the hunt for 5-on-5 production. And on Thursday, he lived up to that promise as he made major changes to the lineup in hopes of sparking some 5-on-5 offense.
Carbery made some tough decisions and elected to separate the Aliaksei Protas-Connor McMichael-Anthony Mantha trio and subsequently move McMichael to the top line to work with Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. Dylan Strome moved into McMichael's spot on that former "McProMo" line, which has been the team's top producer at even strength.
"Other than Anthony Mantha and that line, we don’t score 5-on-5. It makes it really, really challenging when you’re held to 1-2 goals every night," Carbery said on Wednesday in New York, adding, "We just need some 5-on-5 production. We just haven’t got that yet this year. We'll continue to work on it and find answers. We’ll continue to dig under every rock or lift up every rock to find different ways to capitalize and produce and create offense.”
Ultimately, Carbery also hopes that having McMichael up front will help spark a struggling Ovechkin, who has six goals this season and is trying to regain his rhythm as his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky continues.
"Confidence, speed, playmaking ability," Carbery noted on Thursday on Long Island of what he wants to see McMichael bring to the top trio.
He also hopes that, even if the team can't necessarily get on the board, that it jumpstarts something.
"It doesn't necessarily need to be production on the scoresheet. just control play, being able to generate a little bit of chemistry. Some O-zone shifts, being able to read off one another, support one another, generate whether it’s off the rush, whether its off forecheck pressure where we’re able to attack or o-zone sequences, being able to have some sqeuences like that.
"What does it do to the other line? I'm not sure. hopefully they continue to roll wth Pro playing at a real high level and Anthony Mantha playing at a high level and Stromer has had tons of success this year, so we’ll see," he added.
In addition to those changes on the top-6, Max Pacioretty also got his first reps in, skating on the third line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Matthew Phillips. Call-ups Ivan Miroshnichenko and Hendrix Lapierre, one of who will likely head back to Hershey when Pacioretty comes off long-term injured reserve and Ethan Bear signs his contract, were the extras. The fourth line remained intact.
On the blue line, Bear took Trevor van Riemsdyk's spot on the second pairing with Rasmus Sandin. TVR was the odd man out.
It remains unclear whether or not Pacioretty or Bear will make their season debuts against the New York Islanders on Friday, but both are now getting involved in reps to get them ready for game action when the time comes.
Even if Pacioretty doesn't return, the new-look top-6 will remain in place.
"Going off the point of 5-on-5 scoring, finding different ways to spark something as a coaching staff to get guys rolling 5-on-5," Carbery said.