Capitals vs. Blues: Line Combinations, Stats, Storylines & Players To Watch

sammi silber

Sat, Nov 9, 2024, 6:00 p.m.·3 min read

The Washington Capitals are looking to move on quickly from a disappointing loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins as they visit the St. Louis Blues in the second game of a back-to-back.

Here's everything to know before puck drop at Enterprise Center at 7 p.m. ET.

Washington Capitals Line Combinations

The Capitals will have their full blue line healthy for the first time since the season opener, as Jakob Chychrun will return from an upper-body injury that held him out the last five games. With Chychrun returning, Alex Alexeyev will draw back out.

Up front, Hendrix Lapierre will sit as call-up Mike Sgarbossa, who was brought up from the AHL's Hershey Bears with Sonny Milano going on the injured reserve, slots in as the third-line center with Andrew Mangiapane and Jakub Vrana.

Logan Thompson will get the start in goal after Charlie Lindgren played on Friday.

Here are the line combinations:

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Aliaksei Protas

Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson

Andrew Mangiapane-Mike Sgarbossa-Jakub Vrana

Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh

Jakob Chychrun-John Carlson

Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy

Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Logan Thompson

Charlie Lindgren

Washington Capitals Stats

- Jakub Vrana has points in three straight outings.

- Connor McMichael has points in back-to-back games and five of his last six outings overall.

- Dylan Strome's 13 points at 5-on-5 are tied for the third-most in the NHL. Like McMichael, he has a point in all but two games this season.

Washington Capitals Storylines

- Alex Ovechkin had six shots on Friday as his five-game goal-scoring streak came to an end. Expect him to be hungry to get back to his pursuit of Wayne Gretzky against St. Louis. He has 19 goals in 26 career games against the Blues.

- The Capitals will look to redeem themselves after a lack of finish on Friday and look to bolster the power play, which is 2-for-40 since Oct. 17 and currently ranked last in the NHL.

- This is the first time since the second period of the season opener that both Matt Roy and Jakob Chychrun will be available on the blue line for Washington.

- Head coach Spencer Carbery wants the group to get back to the identity that it established early in the season. Mentioned pregame to reporters that he felt it slipping back on Nov. 2 against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"When players feel really good and confident and comfortable and you win, it's natural... The second you let off the gas, the second you get just a touch complacent and think it's going to be easy to score in this league, it's going to be easy to win in this league, it's going to be easy to defend in this league, now you're getting beat. If you lay off the gas and let up on the details of your game and the way that you have to play inside of your structure, you're going to get what you saw last night, and it's been happening the last couple of games."