In The Nets - Washington will go with Ilya Samsonov in net tonight. Samsonov is making his second start of the season, and the second of his NHL career. He debuted on Oct. 4 against the Islanders in New York, playing quite well in a 2-1 Washington victory, the first of his NHL career.
"I'm looking forward to seeing him in his second start," says Reirden. "He was solid in the first one, and hopefully we can do a better job of insulating him than we have Braden [Holtby] lately. So that will be important against a very offensive group of Dallas Stars, especially here at home."
For Dallas, Anton Khudobin gets his second starting assignment of the season as well. In 11 career appearances against the Capitals, the 33-year-old Kazakhstan-born Khudobin has a 5-4-2 record with a shutout, a 2.58 GAA and a .917 save pct.
In his only start of this season thus far, Khudobin stopped 29 of 33 shots and took the loss against Detroit on Oct. 6.
All Lined Up - This is how we expect the Caps and the Stars to look when they conclude their 2019-20 season's series on Saturday night in Dallas:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 19-Backstrom, 43-Wilson
13-Vrana, 92-Kuznetsov, 77-Oshie
62-Hagelin, 20-Eller, 14-Panik
28-Leipsic, 26-Dowd, 21-Hathaway
Defensemen
34-Siegenthaler, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
33-Gudas, 78-Lewington
Goaltenders
30-Samsonov
70-Holtby
Injuries
6-Kempny (lower body)
Scratches
18-Stephenson
DALLAS
Forwards
14-Benn, 91-Seguin, 47-Radulov
13-Janmark, 24-Hintz, 16-Pavelski
18-Dickinson, 12-Faksa, 38-L'Esperance
11-Cogliano, 49-Gardner, 17-Caamano
Defensemen
23-Lindell, 3-Klingberg
4-Heiskanen, 5-Sekera
2-Oleksiak, 39-Hanley
Goaltenders
35-Khudobin
30-Bishop
Injuries
10-Perry (foot)
15-Comeau (lower body)
28-Johns (head)
40-Hanzal (spinal fusion surgery)
45-Polak (sternum)
Scratches
37-Dowling
42-Fedun