Per Mike Vogel, Barry Trotz is shaking things up up the middle, with Michael Latta getting a promotion of sorts to center Marcus Johansson and Troy Brouwer. That moves Evgeny Kuznetsov back to the fourth line, and keeps Andre Burakovsky in the pressbox… although that might be short-lived. With that in mind, here’s a look at what the lines and defensive pairings should look like in front of Braden Holtby:
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Tom Wilson
Brooks Laich – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Marcus Johansson – Michael Latta – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Jay Beagle
Braden Holtby
That leaves Justin Peters backing up Holtby, Burakovsky and Jack Hillen out as healthy scratches, Dmitry Orlov and John Erskine still out with long-term injuries and Aaron Volpatti rehabbing in Hershey.