The Washington Capitals begin their longest road trip of the season tonight in Winnipeg, as they face off against the Winnipeg Jets. The Capitals hope to have the same kind of success in Winnipeg this year as they had last year, when they outscored the Jets 13-1 in Winnipeg in 3 games. Alex Ovechkin is probably excited to be playing the Jets again: he had 9 points in 5 games against the Jets last year, with 4 goals and 5 assists.
Judging by the morning skate, it looks like Braden Holtby (who only allowed 1 goal on 85 shots on goal in Winnipeg last year) will be getting the start in net for the Capitals. John Erskine is also back in the lineup. It appears that Alex Urbom and Jay Beagle will be scratched.
Here’s what the lineups are projected to look like for the Capitals and Jets:
Capitals
Johansson-Backstrom-Ovechkin (90-19-8)
Erat-Laich-Brouwer (10-21-20)
Chimera-Grabovski-Ward (25-84-42)
Volpatti-Fehr-Wilson (24-16-43)
Alzner-Carlson (27-74)
Schmidt-Green (88-52)
Erskine-Oleksy (4-61)
Holtby (70) (in goal)
Neuvirth (30) (backup)
Scratches:
Urbom
Beagle
Jets
Andrew Ladd-Bryan Little-Devin Setoguchi
Evander Kane-Mark Scheifele-Blake Wheeler
Matt Halischuk -Olli Jokinen-Michael Frolik
James Wright-Patrice Cormier-Anthony Peluso
Grant Clitsome-Dustin Byfuglien
Toby Enstrom-Zach Bogosian
Adam Pardy-Paul Postma
Ondrej Pavelec (in goal)
Al Montoya (backup)
Scratches:
Mark Stuart
Jacob Trouba
Jim Slater
Chris Thorburn
Game starts at 8 PM EST and can be viewed on CSN.
