Silbsy's Corner: First Look At Potential Opening Night Lines, What The Plan In Goal Is, Roster Race Updates
The Capitals have some big decisions to make with opening night less than a week out. Here's what to know.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — After another wave of cuts and the roster now sitting at 27 players, the Washington Capitals got back to work on Friday with a busy practice, running lines they could potentially deploy on opening night in less than a week.
The lines coach Spencer Carbery put together for practice could very well change for Saturday’s preseason finale, which should be a last chance for fringe forwards and serve as a bit of a dress rehearsal for Wednesday’s season opener against the Boston Bruins. However, the combinations do appear similar to what could be the lineup on opening night.
Amid a stellar showing through training camp, where he leads all NHLers with six assists and seven points so far, Hendrix Lapierre has not just played himself onto the roster, but into the center position as he remained at 3C on Friday, playing between Anthony Beauvillier and Ryan Leonard.
Meanwhile, Connor McMichael returned to his role on the wing, reuniting with Tom Wilson and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Alex Ovechkin remains with Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas on a line, and the fourth line consists of Brandon Duhaime, Nic Dowd and Justin Sourdif.
Sonny Milano, Ivan Miroshnichenko and Ethen Frank were the extra skaters up front, cycling into the mix. It is possible they could get one more look on Saturday.
On defense, the pairings are the same as they were last season, with Declan Chisholm the seventh defenseman and Dylan McIlrath and Vincent Iorio battling it out for that final spot. I’d expect both to get one final chance on Saturday to prove to Carbery what they can do.
In goal, the Capitals plan to use both goaltenders, but Carbery hinted that Logan Thompson could get a chance to run away with that No. 1 role.
“I’m not going to commit to (a rotation),” Carbery said. “I think Logan, with the year that he had, has earned an opportunity to get a good crack at being our starting goalie, but also we feel great about Chucky as well… we have two word-class goalies that we feel really, really good about, and shame on us if we don’t utilize both of them.”
All the while, Washington is keeping its eyes on Clay Stevenson, who is expected to garner attention when he eventually hits waivers. However — and this is just how it seems to me — there appears to be more smoke than actual noise when it comes to Stevenson being claimed.
Here’s how the lines look right now with 27 players left on the roster. D.C. must cut things down to 23 by Monday at 5 p.m.
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Aliaksei Protas
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier-Hendrix Lapierre-Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Justin Sourdif
Sonny Milano, Ivan Miroshnichenko, Ethen Frank
Martin Fehervary-John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Rasmus Sandin-Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm-Dylan McIlrath/Vincent Iorio
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Clay Stevenson