Head coach Peter Laviolette announced prior to the Washington Capitals’ game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington) that Vitek Vanecek will start a second straight game in net after making 23 saves in Wednesday’s 5-1 season-opening win against the New York Rangers.

CAPS TODAY: Lars Eller is expected to become the second Danish-born player in NHL history to play 800 games tonight. More info on Eller and #Caps Clips at https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/BbxkUx56Nl

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 16, 2021

Defenseman Dennis Cholowski, who was claimed off of waivers from the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, participated in Saturday’s morning skate but as an extra alongside Matt Irwin. The 23-year-old said he would take warm-ups but not play vs. the Lightning.

New arrival Dennis Choloski getting in extra drills with McMichael and Matt Irwin at the tail end of @Capitals practice.@russianmachine @NoVa_Caps pic.twitter.com/Hg6S1gSJsQ

— Kevin McNelis (@KMackSports) October 16, 2021

The Capitals will roll with the same lineup against the Lightning as they did on Wednesday. Center Connor McMichael took rushes as an extra forward.

Capitals lines during AM skate ahead of game vs TB:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Eller-Sprong
Sheary-Lapierre-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz

*Cholowski skating on the 4th D pair as an extra with Irwin

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) October 16, 2021

Here is how the Lightning are expected to look in Washington on Saturday:

Lightning at their morning skate (at Washington tonight)

Palat-Point-Kucherov
Killorn-Cirelli-Stamkos
Maroon-Colton-Perry
Katchouk-Bellemare-Joseph

Hedman-Rutta
McDonagh-Cernak
Sergachev-Sustr

Vasilevskiy
Elliott

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 16, 2021

Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette met with the media following Saturday morning’s team skate.

Full media availability with head coach Peter Laviolette after today's morning skate.#CapsBolts | @socios pic.twitter.com/rGu1IHwPsW

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 16, 2021

By Harrison Brown