Tonight will mark the NHL debut of Evgeny Kuznetsov, who will kick off his time with the Caps on the fourth line (but don’t expect him to stay there too long). Meanwhile, Jaroslav Halak is back in net for the first of this home-and-home series with the Penguins, and Brooks Laich is a game-time decision with – yup, you guessed it – groin-related issues.
Here’s a look at what the lines could be, at least to start the game:
Brooks Laich – Nicklas Backstrom – Alex Ovechkin
Dustin Penner – Marcus Johansson – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Evgeny Kuznetsov – Jay Beagle – Tom Wilson
That leaves Ryan Stoa out as a healthy scratch, John Erskine, Mikhail Grabovski and Aaron Volpatti out with injuries, and Braden Holtby backing up Halak again.