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Washington Capitals: Lineup Changes After T.J. Oshie’s Injury

By Benjamin Little

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 13: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with Nicklas Backstrom #19 after scoring a third period goal against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena on April 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 13: Tom Wilson #43 of the Washington Capitals celebrates with Nicklas Backstrom #19 after scoring a third period goal against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Two of the Eastern Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena on April 13, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /
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With the series tied, and T.J. Oshie likely out for the remainder of the postseason, the Washington Capitals have had to juggle the lines yet again ahead of a very important Game 5.

The Washington Capitals’ fourth line has received the biggest makeover with Chandler Stephenson finding himself back in the lineup and Devante Smith-Pelly entering the playoffs for the first time this postseason. Smith-Pelly is hoping to bring the offensive-prowess he had last year into this season’s playoffs. These players will be centered by Nic Dowd on the fourth unit.

Andrew Burakovsky, Lars Eller and Brett Connolly will man the third line which has been in desperate need of change as they have not been producing at the rate they were late in the regular season. Hopefully this change will spark their offense in Game 5.

Carl Hagelin has been promoted to the second line after playing on the fourth line last game. Hagelin will be paired up with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jakub Vrana. This move was likely made to spark these three players who have been relatively quiet all postseason.

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Kuznetsov has three points in four games, but has not been the stand-out force that he was last Spring. Hagelin has registered zero points all series which sounds bad by itself, but then you remember that he was acquired in part due to his reputation of being a playoff performer.

Washington’s top line will be managed by the usual suspects in Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson. Ovechkin and Backstrom have been producing at a point-per-game rate this postseason so all is well-and-good with them. Wilson needs a bit of a jump and maybe moving to the first line with Ovi and Backstrom will help him in finding his game.

On the backend, the Caps will ice John Carlson and rookie Jonas Siegenthaler as the top unit. Siegenthaler, in only his second career NHL playoff game, has to be ready to play some big minutes against the Carolina Hurricanes’ top lines.

Dmitry Orlov and Matt Niskanen will handle the second-pairing responsibilities, as per usual, and will need to play a tighter game on the backend as they have been caught more than a couple times this series. Orlov sits at a -3 thus far.

Washington’s third pairing will consist of Brooks Orpik and Nick Jensen. Orpik has been surprisingly decent so far and Jensen, in my opinion, has been an excellent addition to the Caps’ blue line both in regular and postseason.

Braden Holtby will remain the starter and rightfully so as he has played exceptional this series with only a few notable mistakes (the spin-o-rama comes to mind). Holtby seems locked in and the Capitals need to ensure that he isn’t seeing an overwhelming amount of shots because no matter how dialed-in Holtby is, eventually a puck is going to get past him.

Next. The Capitals Look to Bounce Back Tonight. dark

Although the series isn’t on the line, this is a must-win for the Caps so they can have momentum heading into a Game 6 with a series lead. If they can contain the Hurricanes fast and aggressive forecheck, adjust their special teams (which have been abysmal this series), and re-solve Petr Mrazek, the Caps should be leaving Game 5 with a chance to end things in Game 6.

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