Yahoo Sports Capitals Looking To Finally Spark Third Line With Frank; Why Miroshnichenko Was Sent Back To Hershey
The Washington Capitals' third line will have a new look on Friday, as Ethen Frank has joined the NHL ranks for the first time and will make his debut against the Montreal Canadiens.
For coach Spencer Carbery, Frank's recall comes at an important time as the team looks to not only spark its 5-on-5 scoring but bring some stability to the third line that has struggled all season long.
"The timing, it's more related to us with where we're at in the season and frankly, pardon the pun, but Franky deserving the opportunity," Carbery said of the recall.
Frank will play on the third line with Taylor Raddysh and Lars Eller as the team looks to get back to the impressive 5-on-5 scoring it put up at the start of the season.
All the while, Ivan Miroshnichenko was loaned back to the AHL's Hershey Bears, with the Capitals wanting him to get more playing time and continue to develop on the right path.
"We just felt like as an organization with Miro starting to be in and out of the lineup a little bit, his minutes diminishing, we just want to be careful with that becoming a common theme of him playing nine minutes a night and sparingly in and out of the lineup," Carbery said. "We have big expectations for him in the organization so we want to make sure that he's developing and getting the necessary minutes, playing time, situation playing time, puck touches, scoring chances, shots on goal, all that stuff in game action, and that was starting to diminish. so we thought it was the appropriate time to make that flip."
