The Capitals will look to keep their hot streak alive on Halloween.
WASHINGTON — The surging Washington Capitals are off to their best start in a long time, and despite injuries on the blue line, they'll look to keep the good times rolling on Halloween night against the Montreal Canadiens.
Here's everything to know before puck drop at 7 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena.
Washington Capitals Line Combinations
Washington's lineup will see a slight tweak, as Jakob Chychrun draws out due to an upper-body injury suffered in the opening minutes of Tuesday's 5-3 win over the New York Rangers.
With Chychrun out and Matt Roy (lower-body) set to miss his eighth straight game, Alex Alexeyev will draw in as he makes his season debut. The forward lines will remain the same, with Hendrix Lapierre and Sonny Milano the healthy scratches.
Charlie Lindgren will start as the Capitals continue to alternate between both goaltenders.
Here are the combinations:
Aliaksei Protas-Dylan Strome-Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana-Mike Sgarbossa-Andrew Mangiapane
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Rasmus Sandin-Dylan McIlrath
Alex Alexeyev-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Charlie Lindgren
Logan Thompson
Washington Capitals Stats
- Washington has allowed the fewest shots per game in the league (25.1) to open the season.
- Dylan Strome has points in seven of eight games to open the season and leads D.C. in scoring with 11 points so far.
- Connor McMichael has also remained red-hot as he continues to produce at over a point-per-game pace.
Washington Capitals Storylines To Watch
- Alex Ovechkin is coming off a two-goal performance on Tuesday and will look to keep it going against Montreal. In 58 career outings against the Canadiens, he has 38 goals and a total of 67 points.
- Aliaksei Protas is coming off a three-point performance against the Rangers and has been a force to be reckoned with so far this season since being promoted to the top line.
- Washington's power play is in desperate need of improvement and will look to bust out against the Canadiens; it is 0-for-21 over the last six games and ranks ssecond-to-last in the league at 7.4 percent.
- Charlie Lindgren, who started his career in the Canadiens organization, will look to make the most of his night in net against his former club. In three career games against Montreal, he is 2-1 with a .908 save percentage.
- Alex Alexeyev will look to make the most of his season debut. The message to him, per head coach Spencer Carbery, is to just play his game and bring what he usually does to the table.