Per Katie Carrera, Adam Oates is shuffling things up a bit up front and on the blue line – but not in net, where Jaroslav Halak will make yet another start to kick off the road trip. Here’s what tonight’s lines and defensive pairings could look like:
Marcus Johansson – Jay Beagle – Alex Ovechkin
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Nicklas Backstrom – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Dustin Penner – Casey Wellman – Tom Wilson
That leaves Connor Carrick sitting out as a healthy scratch, Brooks Laich, John Erskine, Mikhail Grabovski and Aaron Volpatti out with injuries, and Braden Holtby backing up Halak.