On Saturday morning the Washington Capitals held their first practice of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at Capital One Arena. Game 1 is on the horizon with the puck dropping at 7 p.m. on Monday at home.
Practice lines and more
Ovechkin-Strome-Beauvillier
McMichael-PLD-Wilson
Mangiapane-Eller-Leonard
Duahime-Dowd-Raddysh
Forward extra: Frank
Chychrun-Carlson
Sandin-Roy
Alexeyev-TvR
Extra pair: McIlrath and just recalled Ethan Bear
These were the lines Spencer Carbery ran through the rushes. Could be indicative of how the Caps start the series on Monday night against the Habs. The top line featured Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, and trade deadline acquisition Anthony Beauvillier.
There isn't much of a sample size but the trio has seen good results this season. They played just 24:26 of combined five on five ice time together and outscored opponents 2-0. That accounts for 52 percent of the expected goals and 68.8 percent of the high danger chances.
Ovechkin and Strome are the Capitals two best scorers and hottest two players heading into postseason play as they recorded a combined 22 points with 13 goals and nine assists in April. Beauvillier didn't record a point in the final nine games of the season.
On the second line is Pierre-Luc Dubois up the middle with Connor McMichael and Tom Wilson. The challenge for them is they will more than likely see the top line of Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki, and Juraj Slafkovsky. There have been similar assignments for that three the whole season.
With McMichael, PLD and Wilson, the Capitals have collected 51.4 percent attempts, 54.4 percent of the expected goals, 54.9 percent of the scoring chances, and 55.2 percent of the high danger chances.
For the third line Ryan Leonard will get his first taste of NHL playoff action as he'll be lined up with Lars Eller and Andrew Mangiapane. In 40:36 of five on five ice time together, the Caps struggled to find the back of the net even though they created 2.45 expected goals which accounted for 62.8 percent of their expected goals during those shifts.
The fourth line is centered by Nic Dowd with Brandon Duhaime and Taylor Raddysh to his side. It was together early in the season and reunited in the final weeks. They took 345 combined defensive zone face offs and the three saw 50.6 percent of the expected goals and 52.8 percent of the scoring chances.
On the defense Jakob Chychrun and John Carlson are back together. They began the year playing regularly with one another but eventually were together only if the Capitasl were down in a contest and needed instant offense. In their combined 387:27 minutes of ice time together, Washington outscored the opposition 20-12.
Rasmus Sandin and Matt Roy seem ready to be Carbery's primary shutdown pair as they got a share of the tough minutes throughout the season. Washington had 55.1 percent of their expected goals with them at five on five despite just seeing 49.9 percent of the shot attempts.
With Martin Fehervary sidlined and not skating Saturday due to a lower body injury he sustained against the New York Islanders earlier in the week the third pair rounds out with Alex Alexeyev and Trevor van Riemsdyk. Alexeyev played in just eight regular season games this season while he appeared in last year's playoff series against the New York Rangers in all four contests.
Among the goalies Logan Thompson was a full participant as he occupied one net with Charlie Lindgren inside the other. Clay Stevenson would also take reps as he's still with the club. After Thompson was injured against the Carolina Hurricanes on April 2, Lindgren made five of the last seven starts to close out the regular season.