Breaking down new Capitals lines after T.J. Oshie injury

T.J. Oshie suffered a crosscheck to the face during the Washington Capitals 5-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers and did not travel with the team to California. On Sunday morning (afternoon over here on the east coast) in San Jose, the Caps held a practice at SAP Center in preparation for Monday night’s battle with the Sharks.

Here were the lines at practice via Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson

McMichael-Strome-Phillips

Milano-Lapierre-Protas

Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK

Fehervary-Carlson

Sandin-Jensen

Edmundson-TvR

Alexeyev-Johansen

Oshie has an upper body injury. Connor McMichael moves to the wing position. Alex Alexeyev and Lucas Johansen were the extra defensive pairs. Anthony Mantha was rotating on the fourth line and appears to be a healthy scratch.

This is a line shakeup for Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery not only in the wake of an Oshie injury but the wake of a 5-0 loss to a struggling Oilers team.

Matthew Phillips and Hendrix Lapierre appear to be back in the mix. Phillips is filling in for Oshie at right wing. McMichael moves to the left wing to open up Lapierre at the center spot.

Mantha was rotating with Nicolas Aube Kubel. Mantha appeared on Saturday Nov. 18 in his return from his ruptured eardrum that he suffered on Nov. 8 in the middle of his two goal game. He indeed said that he was just starting to find his game again.

Mantha skated for only 11:32 minutes in the span of 14 shifts in the Caps loss to the Oilers. He additionally spent 4:19 minutes on the power play. The Caps went 0 for 5 on the man advantage in that game and have gone 0 for 28 in their last 10 games.

Evgeny Kuznetsov got elevated to the top line with Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. On defense, Martin Fehervary is expected to play after missing the last five games with a lower body injury.

The Caps and Sharks go head to head tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. eastern on Monumental Sports Network and Monumental Sports Network 2.