Barry Trotz addressed the media prior to tonight’s game against the Buffalo Sabres. Among the topics were injury updates, who starts in goal, and how the team looks to reverse their current back-to-back trend. This is the fourth time the Capitals are playing in a back-to-back set this season (They have 16 sets in all this season). So far the Capitals have won the first game and dropped the second. Tonight they’ll look to change that. 

Trotz opened the session stating that Philipp Grubauer will get the start in goal. No surprises there, as Grubauer has started every game of a back-to-back after Holtby got the start the night before.

Trotz tells reporters that Grubauer starts. Said Bowey is fine after he vanished from the bench last night for half a period.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 7, 2017

As Isabelle mentioned, Madison Bowey is okay and should be playing tonight. The Capitals didn’t hold a morning skate but Trotz did say that the lines will be decided at the conclusion of warmups.

With the rest of the team traveling to Buffalo, Matt Niskanen, Brett Connolly and Tyler Graovac remained in Arlington and skated at Kettler this morning, as each player is still rehabbing from their respective injuries. Trotz said they’re going from week-to-week to day-to-day, so we should see these guys in action very soon.

Some good news on injury front for the #Caps. Niskanen, Connolly + Graovac all skated hard at KCI earlier today. “They’re getting from week-to-week to day-to-day,” Trotz said. “They’re feeling better…Hopefully we’ll start getting one at a time into the lineup.”

— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikNBCS) November 7, 2017

Last night the Capitals beat the Coyotes in overtime in DC and now take another whack at trying to sweep back-to-back games. Trotz expressed confidence in the fourth time being the charm.

“I think we’re up for a challenge,” Trotz said. “I think we’ve learned from every back-to-back so far… I’m confident that our guys will be ready.”

By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo

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Notes from this morning's optional skate and preparation for the @flapanthers are up on our site. #Capitals #RockTheRed #Caps #LetsGoCaps #Trotz #BarryTrotz

A post shared by NoVa Caps (@nova_caps) on Oct 21, 2017 at 11:05am PDT