Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette told media this afternoon that Ilya Samsonov will get the start in goal for the Capitals tonight when they face the Florida Panthers in Sunrise, Florida. He also said that Nic Dowd will return to the lineup tonight.
Aliaksei Protas was re-assigned to Hershey to make room for Dowd in the lineup. Brett Leason will stay in the lineup.
Samsonov is 3-0-0-1 with a 2.43 GAA and a .904 save percentage so far this season. Samsonov has never faced the Florida Panthers.
Samsonov will start tonight at FLA. #Caps
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 4, 2021
Center Nic Dowd Dowd has missed three of the past four games with a lower-body injury but was a full participant during the Washington Capitals’ line rushes at Wednesday’s practice at the Panther’s Ice Den.
The Capitals did not hold a gameday morning skate this morning. Lines at yesterday’s practice:
Capitals lines at practice:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Eller-Sprong
Hagelin-Dowd/Protas-Hathaway
Sheary-McMichael-Lapierre-LeasonFehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz*Looks like a lot of moving parts, dependent on Dowd’s status
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) November 3, 2021
Sergei Bobrovsky will get the start in goal for the Florida Panthers. He is 6-0-0-0 with a 1.81 GAA and a .944 save percentage so far this season. For his career against the Capitals he is 9-12-5 with a 3.02 GAA and a .898 save percentage.
Head coach Peter Laviolette discusses Ilya Samsonov getting the nod in net and the return of Nic Dowd ahead of tonight’s puck drop in Florida.#CapsCats | @socios pic.twitter.com/aFgdjsJ1uW
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 4, 2021
Puck drop tonight is set for 7:00 PM.
By Jon Sorensen
