Per Mike Vogel, the Caps will get one bruised blueliner back in the lineup tonight… but another may be coming out. Brooks Orpik makes his return after sitting out the last two weeks, sliding into his old spot alongside John Carlson, while Tim Gleason appears to be out with an upper-body injury. Michael Latta also seems set to make his return, which means the lines and defensive pairings (in front of Braden Holtby, natch) should look something like this:
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Marcus Johansson
Curtis Glencross – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Brooks Laich – Michael Latta – Tom Wilson
Brooks Orpik – John Carlson
That would leave Justin Peters backing up Holtby, Gleason and Jay Beagle sitting out, and Dmitry Orlov and John Erskine still on the IR.