We are just moments away from the Washington Capitals taking on the Montreal Canadiens tonight at 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena. Sonny Milano was on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex for today's optional skate in a regular jersey, per Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post.
Here were the lines via Tarik El-Bashir that the Capitals rolled during practice yesterday:
Pacioretty-McMichael-Oshie
Ovechkin-Strome-Wilson
Mantha-Sgarbossa-Protas
Malenstyn-Dowd-NAK
Fehervary-Carlson
Sandin-TvR
Edmundson-Jensen
Lindgren
Kuemper
Tonight's game is the second of three meetings between the two clubs this season. Dylan Strome scored two third period goals on Oct. 21 to help the Capitals rally from a 2-0 deficit to force overtime and leave the north with a point.
Feb. 17 the Caps and Canadiens will be back in action at the Belle Centre. After a close 3-2 loss, this Caps team is much different but one thing didn't change from that October night. That fact is that the Caps are still as unpredictable as it gets.
Now that the players are back from their vacation and Tom Wilson is back from the All Star Game, the Caps now have to adjust to life without Evgeny Kuznetsov as he entered the player assistance program. Mike Sgarbossa will be in his place on the third line.
In addition to Strome, be on the lookout for Alex Ovechkin tonight. While he hasn't scored like he used to, he's still on a two game point streak as well as a two game assist streak. The Caps are also hot on home ice as they've won three straight at Capital One Arena dating back to Jan. 13.
During that stretch the Capitals have outscored their opponents 10-4 which inlcudes a 5-2 victory over the Blues in their most recent game there on Jan. 18. Per the game notes, three game home winning streak is also tied for their longest of the season which of course came in November.