The Washington Capitals recalled goaltender Ilya Samsonov for goaltending depth for Games 1 and 2 of their first-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which begins on Thursday at 7:30 PM ET (NBC Sports Washington locally, USA Network nationally). Head coach Todd Reirden told reporters that the team will make a decision on whether Samsonov will stay or go after Game 2 on Saturday (3 PM ET, NBC).

Reirden said recalling Samsonov was “standard practice.” He’ll be here games 1 and 2, then the organization will go from there.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 11, 2019

Capitals’ Game 1 Lineup

Caps’ projected game 1 lineup:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Hagelin-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Dowd-Stephenson

Carlson-Jensen
Orlov-Niskanen
Orpik-Djoos

Holtby

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 10, 2019

The power-play units did not change from the regular season.

Interviews

Jakub Vrana – ready to defend. #ALLCAPS #Back2Back pic.twitter.com/n0Tkz67avs

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 11, 2019

Hear from the Game 1 starter. #HoltBeast pic.twitter.com/PrVtySOMPq

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) April 11, 2019

From Hurricanes Side

Head coach Rodd Brind’Amour named Petr Mrazek his Game 1 starting netminder.

Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour confirmed Petr Mrazek will start in net tonight vs. Capitals.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 11, 2019

Brind’Amour stated that defenseman Calvin deHann (upper-body) will not likely play in Game 2 on Saturday but he was hopeful that deHann would appear sometime in the series.

Brind’Amour said D Calvin de Haan (upper body) skated today in DC. Brind’Amour said he’s hopeful he’ll be available to play at some point in series, but didn’t sound optimistic about him playing in Game 2 on Saturday.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) April 11, 2019

Hurricanes’ Game 1 Lineup

Hurricanes Game 1 projected lineup:

Niederreiter-Aho-Williams
Teravainen-Staal-Ferland
Svechnikov-Martinook-McGinn
McKegg-Wallmark-Foegele

Slavin-Hamilton
Pesce-Faulk
Fleury-TVR

Mrazek

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) April 11, 2019

Capitals Today

CAPS TODAY: Last postseason, Evgeny Kuznetsov set the Capitals record for points in a single postseason (12g, 20a) and became the fourth active player to record 30 or more points in the playoffs. More info on Kuznetsov and the Caps at https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/uNiyay9qoo

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 11, 2019

By Harrison Brown