Potential lineups for Capitals, Ducks

WASHINGTON -- Here are the projected lineups for the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks heading into tonight's game (7:30 p.m. ET, Versus, TSN2). Both teams hope to end respective mini-slides -- after winning seven straight to open the season the Caps have dropped two in a row, while the Ducks are 1-4-1 in their last six.

These teams played two dramatically different contests last season -- Anaheim won a tight-checking, 2-1 contest in overtime at Verizon Center, while the Capitals won a wild 7-6 decision at Honda Center.

CAPITALS
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera - Marcus Johansson - Alexander Semin
Matt Hendricks - Brooks Laich - Joel Ward
Cody Eakin - Mathieu Perreault - Mike Knuble

Karl Alzner - John Carlson
Roman Hamrlik - Dennis Wideman
Jeff Schultz - John Erskine

Tomas Vokoun will start in goal, with Michal Neuvirth the backup.

Mike Green skated for the first time since taking a shot to the face and landing awkwardly on his ankle, but he is not ready to play yet. Erskine had offseason shoulder surgery and will make his season debut tonight.

If Eakin plays instead of Jeff Halpern, it would be his NHL debut. Knuble skated on the fourth line in practice Monday.

DUCKS
Bobby Ryan - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry
Andrew Cogliano - Saku Koivu - Teemu Selanne
Brandon McMillan - Nick Bonino - Andrew Gordon
Matt Beleskey - Maxime Macenauer - Devante Smith-Pelly

Francois Beauchemin - Cam Fowler
Toni Lydman - Lubomir Visnovsky
Luca Sbisa - Sheldon Brookbank

Jonas Hiller will start in goal, with Dan Ellis the backup.

Coach Randy Carlyle is going to shake up his forward lines as the search for more offense continues. The bottom two lines have combined for only two goals in 11 games, and everyone on the roster not named Ryan, Getzlaf, Perry or Selanne have combined for six. This would be Bonino’s season debut with the Ducks -- he has played 35 games for them during the past two seasons. Parros could play in place of Smith-Pelly on the fourth line.

For more on tonight's game, check out the preview here.

Back to top