Per Katie Carrera, Braden Holtby gets the nod in net as the Caps wrap up the season – with a bit of a banged-up team in front of him, as Marcus Johansson will miss the season finale with an upper-body injury. In his place will be call-up Peter Leblanc, who will make his NHL debut on the fourth line, while Richard Trophy finalist Jay Beagle moves up to the second line between Evgeny Kuznetsov and Troy Brouwer.
Here’s what the lines and defensive pairings should look like for the final game of the 2013-14 season:
Mikhail Grabovski – Nicklas Backstrom – Alex Ovechkin
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Jay Beagle – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Dustin Penner – Peter Leblanc – Tom Wilson
That leaves Mike Green, Patrick Wey, Jack Hillen and Brooks Laich out with injuries, Aaron Volpatti and John Erskine as healthy scratches, and Jaroslav Halak serving as Holtby’s backup (or vice versa) for the evening.