Photo: The North State Journal
The Washington Capitals and Carolina Hurricanes battle it out at PNC Arena in the fourth preseason game for Washington on Friday night. The Capitals and Hurricanes will also play next Friday at Capital One Arena. Puck drop from Raleigh is at 7:30 on NBC Sports Washington.
The Capitals will be playing their second game in as many nights after dropping a 5-2 decision to the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre in Montreal on Thursday night.
Center Lars Eller will return from a lower-body injury that kept him out the first three preseason games. He was listed as day-to-day. The 28-year old recorded a career-high 17 goals and 38 points in 81 games last season and was one of the Capitals’ unsung heroes in the playoffs, when he tallied seven goals, including the Stanley-Cup clinching goal in Game 5 against the Vegas Golden Knights, and 18 points. Defenseman John Carlson, who is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, will not play.
Forward Sergei Shumakov, who the Capitals signed out of the KHL on September 1, will make his NHL debut tonight against Carolina. Shumakov tallied 17 goals, 40 points, and a +28 rating in 48 games with CSKA Moscow.
Notable players who appeared Stanley Cup Final and will dress for the Capitals on Friday include center Nicklas Backstrom, forward T.J. Oshie, forward Chandler Stephenson, forward Jakub Vrana, defenseman Matt Niskanen, defenseman Dmitry Orlov, and goaltender Braden Holtby.
Free agent acquisition Nic Dowd will also be in the lineup for the Capitals.
Some notable rookies and prospects rocking the red against the Hurricanes include forward Shane Gersich, center Travis Boyd, forward Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, defenseman Lucas Johansen, and defenseman Connor Hobbs.
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov and Holtby will likely split playing time tonight.
Capitals’ Lines at Carolina
Tonight’s lineup in Carolina #CapsCanes #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/H0j9M6Kfoe
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) September 21, 2018
These look to be the Caps power play units for tonight:
PP1: Vrana-Backstom-Oshie; Niskanen-Orlov.
PP2: Shumakov-Eller-Stephenson
; Bowey-Johansen.— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) September 21, 2018
Hurricanes’ Roster vs. Washington
The Hurricanes will use mostly the same lineup that they used when they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning by a score of 6-1 on Wednesday night, except forward Andrei Svechnikov, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 draft, will be in the lineup against the Capitals.
Canes roster for tonight’s game with Tampa Bay pic.twitter.com/boEqu8OZM5
— Chip Alexander (@ice_chip) September 19, 2018
By Harrison Brown
