After waiving nine players and making roster cuts on Monday, the Washington Capitals iced their expected lineup for when the team visits the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington) at Tuesday’s practice.
After giving forward Daniel Sprong a look at third-line left-wing, it appears that Conor Sheary has won that job. Sprong skated as the extra forward.
Head coach Peter Laviolette kept captain Alex Ovechkin on center Nicklas Backstrom’s line and forward Jakub Vrana on center Evgeny Kuznetsov’s line.
The bottom-six forward group and defense remained the same as it has been since training camp opened.
Laviolette said on Monday that Vitek Vanecek would be the Capitals’ back-up goalie to start the season but the team will sign Craig Anderson, who attended training camp on a professional tryout and will join the taxi squad.
NHL teams are required to submit their 23-player and four-to-six skater taxi squad rosters by 5 PM ET on Tuesday. Each team will be required to carry at least three goalies at all times this season.
You can see the Capitals’ expected opening night lineup below:
Tuesday Capitals lines:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Panik-Eller-Sheary
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
SprongOrlov-Carlson
Dillon-Schultz
Chara-Jensen
Siegenthaler-TvRSamsonov
Vanecek— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 12, 2021
By Harrison Brown