Washington Capitals: Top 3 keys to victory against Penguins

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Tom Wilson, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

The Washington Capitals will host the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight to begin a two game series. Tonight the Caps will debut their reverse retro jerseys. Here is how to watch the game. Read on for our top 3 keys to victory.

The Caps are coming off a win over the New Jersey Devils by the final of 4-3, bouncing back from a loss the previous day to the New York Rangers. The Penguins meanwhile split a two game series with the New York Islanders with their lone win coming in Sidney Crosby’s 1,000th game.

Here are the top 3 keys to a Caps victory.

Lars Eller, Washington Capitals Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports /

#3 A new lineup

The Caps held a morning skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex today and there were some glaring changes. In particular, the biggest change came when Lars Eller got promoted to center the first line while Nicklas Backstrom dropped down to the third line.

Here are the lines via Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Eller-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Panik-Backstrom-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Sprong

Defense
Dillon-Carlson
Orlov-Schultz
Chara-Jensen
Siegenthaler-TvR

Goalies
Vanecek
Anderson

The Caps stopped their morning skate a few reps in and made the first line start over in line rushes. There were some curse words. When Peter Laviolette was asked about it, he responded, “It was just a chat… it was just to sharpen things up a little bit for tonight.

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