#1 A new lineup
This throwing the lines into a blender by Carbery might be the biggest key to a win tonight if the game plan works. Let’s look at the lineup the Capitals ran last game side by side with the lineup they’re expected to run tonight. Remember Nic Dowd is missing his second straight game.
At Senators:
Capitals lines in warmups at Ottawa:
— Bailey Johnson (@BaileyAJohnson_) October 18, 2023
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Milano-Backstrom-Phillips
Malenstyn-Protas-Mantha
Sandin-Carlson
Fehervary-TvR
Johansen-Jensen
Kuemper
Nic Dowd is out with an upper body injury
At Canadiens:
Capitals lines at practice in Brossard:
— Bailey Johnson (@BaileyAJohnson_) October 20, 2023
Ovechkin-Strome-Phillips
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Malenstyn-Protas-Mantha
Sandin-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Haman Aktell-TvR
Alexeyev-Johansen
Looking at these I see a big change in the defense. This was coming after they recalled Hardy Haman Aktell from the Hershey Bears while placing Charlie Lindgren on IR. Alex Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen look to be the blue line’s healthy scratches.
Nick Jensen moves up to the second pairing while Trevor van Riemsdyk is on the third paring with Haman Aktell.
Now let’s look at the forward lines. The significant move here is Tom Wilson moves to the third line while Matthew Phillips moves up to the top line. Other than that the rest of the forward lines remain the same.
Having Phillips on the top line increases the speed. It should get Alex Ovechkin going as he’s looking to dent the twine for the first time this season after going two straight games without a shot on goal for the first time in his career.