SKATE SHAVINGS - News and Notes From Caps' Morning Skate

Rebound -On Friday night in Washington, the Caps dropped a 4-2 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins, a loss that halted a seven-game point streak (6-0-1) on home ice. The setback to the Pens was Washington's second regulation loss at home this season; they also fell 2-1 to the Philadelphia Flyers on Nov. 6, and those two home losses also account for the only blemishes on their record against Metropolitan Division foes this season (6-2-0).

In between those two home losses, the Caps rolled up an 11-2-2 record, a run that started with a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Washington on Nov. 8. Tonight in Buffalo, the Caps will seek to rebound from another home ice loss against the Sabres, this time in Western New York. Washington has yet to go consecutive games without claiming a point this season.
Everybody Hurts - The Caps have been banged up since the first night of the 2021-22 season, and things turn a turn for the worse in that regard in Friday night's game against the Penguins. Washington was missing five regular players at the outset of the game, and it lost two more stalwarts in the second period when defenseman Martin Fehervary and right wing Tom Wilson both departed the scene with upper body injuries.
Wilson did not travel with the team to Buffalo, and Fehervary will be a game-time decision. Both have played in all 27 Caps games to date this season, two of only eight remaining players with that distinction.
Typically, Caps coach Peter Laviolette tends to disrupt the remainder of his lineup as little as possible when making alterations to the group. Mike Sgarbossa is Washington's extra forward, so he will draw into the lineup in Wilson's absence. If Fehervary is unable to go, Dennis Cholowski would step in.
"[Friday] night when we lost Tom and [were dealing with] some of the matchups, and you see [Sidney] Crosby coming out the door," says Laviolette, "we shuffled the lines a little bit, and then we dropped down to 11 forwards. It makes it a little bit more difficult.
"Without Tom, we've got to fill that spot. It could be some different guys getting some shifts up in there. And then Sgarbossa draws in the lineup too, but he's not going to go there. He's going to probably play center for us."
Laviolette has deployed Aliaksei Protas, Conor Sheary and Daniel Sprong on the right side of his top line with Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov. The path of least resistance would involve sliding Protas from the middle of the fourth line to the right side of the top unit and placing Sgarbossa between Beck Malenstyn and Brett Leason on the fourth line. But it's going to take a village to even try to replace what Wilson brings to the table on a given night, so you may see a combination of those players in that slot tonight, depending on how things are going.
"You'd like stability, but it just not where we've been for the last month and a half," says Laviolette. "Things are changing every day."
In The Nets - Ilya Samsonov has carried much of the goaltending workload for Washington of late, starting nine of the team's last 11 games. With the Caps finishing up a set of back-to-backs on Saturday against the Sabres, Vitek Vanecek gets the start for Washington.
Vanecek is seeking his first win since Nov. 14, a 6-1 win over the Penguins in Washington. Although he has lost three straight starts since and has yielded three or more goals in each, Vanecek has helped the Caps pick up a point in two of those three starts (0-1-2).
Just under 11 months ago, Vanecek made his NHL debut here in Buffalo, earning a 2-1 win over the Sabres in the second game of an abbreviated 56-game 2020-21 season. Two months later, he earned his first NHL shutout here against the Sabres as well.
On the season, Vanecek is 4-3-5 with a 2.56 GAA and a .905 save pct. in 13 appearances. Lifetime against the Sabres, he is 6-1-1 with a shutout, a 2.34 GAA and a .923 save pct. in eight appearances.
Buffalo has deployed five different netminders to date this season, with ex-Cap Craig Anderson and veteran journeyman Dustin Tokarski accounting for all eight Buffalo victories, picking up four wins each. But both Anderson (upper body) and Tokarski (COVID-19 protocol) are unavailable for Saturday's game.
Rookie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen started and played well on Friday against the Rangers, leaving veteran journeyman Aaron Dell and former Bruins, Golden Knights and Blackhawks goalie Malcolm Subban as Buffalo's likely options. Subban was acquired from Chicago earlier this month, but he left his first start as a Sabre with an injury and has not played since yielding six goals on 25 shots to Carolina in that Dec. 4 game, his first with Buffalo.
Neither Dell nor Subban has recorded a victory as of yet this season, and Subban has never played against Washington previously. Lifetime against the Caps, Dell is 0-1-0 with a 3.11 GAA and a .913 save pct. in two appearances.
All Lined Up - Here's how we expect the Capitals and the Sabres to look on Saturday night in Buffalo when the two teams both finish off a set of back-to-back games:
WASHINGTON
Forwards
8-Ovechkin, 92-Kuznetsov, 59-Protas
62-Hagelin, 20-Eller, 73-Sheary
10-Sprong 24-McMichael, 77-Oshie
47-Malenstyn, 23-Sgarbossa, 49-Leason
Defensemen
42-Fehervary, 74-Carlson
9-Orlov, 3-Jensen
52-Irwin, 2-Schultz
Goaltenders
41-Vanecek
30-Samsonov
60-Fucale
Extras
38-Cholowski
Injured
19-Backstrom (hip, week-to-week)
21-Hathaway (COVID-19 protocol)
26-Dowd (COVID-19 protocol)

39-Mantha (upper body, indefinite)
43-Wilson (upper body)
57-van Riemsdyk (COVID-19 protocol)
BUFFALO
Forwards
53-Skinner, 72-Thompson, 71-Olofsson
57-Murray, 24-Cozens, 21-Okposo
28-Girgensons, 20-Eakin, 29-Hinostroza
74-Asplund, 17-Jankowski, 15-Hayden
Defensemen
26-Dahlin, 10-Jokiharju
78-Bryson, 33-Miller
4-Butcher, 13-Pysyk
Goaltenders
80-Dell
47-Subban
1-Luukkonen
Extras
96-Bjork
Injured
8-Hagg (undisclosed)
31-Tokarski (COVID-19 protocol)
37-Mittelstadt (undisclosed)
41-Anderson (upper body)
47-Subban (lower body)
89-Tuch (shoulder)
91-Caggiula (upper body)