Per reports out of Verizon Center, John Erskine will return to the lineup in place of Jack Hillen, but things otherwise will be the same as they have been for some time now (Nicklas Backstrom, thankfully, sounds good to go), with the exception of Braden Holtby getting the cage back. So here’s how the Caps skaters are expected to align at the outset of today’s matinee:
Marcus Johansson – Jay Beagle – Alex Ovechkin
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Nicklas Backstrom – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Dustin Penner – Chris Brown – Tom Wilson
Dmitry Orlov – Mike Green
That leaves Connor Carrick out as a healthy scratch, Hillen, Brooks Laich, Mikhail Grabovski and Aaron Volpatti out with injuries, and Jaroslav Halak as Holtby’s backup.