Washington Capitals: Breaking down second preseason game against Devils

After a shootout loss to the Boston Bruins, the Washington Capitals will look to bounce back on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena against the New Jersey Devils featuring a lineup of mostly varsity regulars. Tonight we will get to see what the top line of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Anthony Mantha will look like as well as some other interesting storylines. We’ve got all the info here.

Here is the Capitals roster:

Forwards
Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael
Hendrix Lapierre
Mike Vecchione
Anthony Mantha
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby
Beck Malenstyn
Aliaksei Protas
Shane Gersich
Brian Pinho
Mason Morelli
Kody Clark
T.J. Oshie
Evgeny Kuznetsov

Defensemen
Nick Jensen
Michal Kempny
Lucas Johansen
Alex Alexeyev
Vincent Iorio
Matt Irwin
John Carlson

Goaltenders
Ilya Samsonov
Zach Fucale

The Capitals have made the following roster cuts, assigning the following respective players to their clubs: Garin Bjorklund, Haakon Hanelt, Martin Has, Bear Hughes, and Dru Krebs.

Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin will make his preseason debut after signing a five year, $47.5 million contract over the summer. We will also get another look at prospects Connor McMichael and Hendrix Lapierre, the latter of which had a good game on Sunday night.

Lapierre recorded two assists in his preseason debut. It marked the second straight preseason the Capitals have had a rookie debut in the opening game and record a multi point game. During the 2019-20 preseason, it was Aliaksei Protas recording three points with a goal and two assists in a. 4-3 win on September 16, 2019 against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Last season Lapierre recorded 31 points with eight goals and 23 assists in 21 games with the Chicoutimi Saguenees in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL) which included nine multi point games. In his first game of the season, Lapierre recorded a career high four points with two goals and two assists in a 5-2 win against the Shawinigan Catarctes on Oct. 2, 2020.

Connor McMichael appears in his second straight preseason game after skating 15:55 on Sunday. Like McMichael, Alex Alexeyev will also be looking to make the opening night roster. He is an underdog but the coaches and fans will get a look at him Wednesday night.

The Devils lineup features Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes. Also be sure to look out for former Capital Jonas Siegenthaler.

The Caps and Devils will square off tonight at 7 p.m. You can catch the game locally on NBC Sports Washington or nationally on NHL Network. You can listen to the game on 106.7 The Fan or Caps Radio 24/7.