The Washington Capitals are set to deploy their new power play on Monday night at Capital One Arena against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets are 28th in the NHL on the penalty kill at 74.1 percent, which makes Monday’s game a more favorable setting for Washington’s deficient man advantage. Defenseman Jakob Chychrun is expected to run a unit with forwards Alex Ovechkin, Dylan Strome, Tom Wilson and Ryan Leonard, while defenseman John Carlson will work with Connor McMichael, Sonny Milano, Anthony Beauvillier and Ethen Frank.
Capitals Coach Spencer Carbery cautioned against any narrative that the changes constituted a demotion for Carlson, remaining insistent that Washington intends to use both units fairly equally.
“I understand the optics of it. Tom Wilson, he’s probably on the first unit. Dylan Strome is on the first unit. I don’t look at it that way, and that’s not a slight at Dylan and Willy,” Carbery said Monday morning. “It’s just, tonight for example, if Dylan Strome has a 40-second shift and we draw a penalty, he’s probably not going out there, so he would not be on the first unit power play. I just genuinely think that John is going to start some power plays and Chychy is going to start some power plays.
“We’ll see where it goes. We’ll see if there’s a hot hand. We’ll see if we make adjustments. I don’t look at this as PP1, PP2, so I haven’t even broached the subject with John, because I don’t look at it that way.”
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Center Nic Dowd is expected to miss his fourth game in a row with an upper-body injury. He did quite a bit of extra work after Washington’s pregame skate and appeared to be testing out contact with defenseman Dylan McIlrath, but didn’t look happy as he left the ice. On defense, Declan Chisholm is set to draw in and Trevor van Riemsdyk will come out.
Logan Thompson will be the starting netminder for the Capitals, after getting pulled in the first period of Saturday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Elvis Merzlikins will be between the pipes for Columbus.
How to watch Capitals vs. Blue Jackets
Time: 7 p.m. Eastern
Location: Capital One Arena, Washington
TV/radio: Monumental Sports Network; 106.7 the Fan
Projected lines
Capitals
Forwards
Anthony Beauvillier — Dylan Strome — Alex Ovechkin
Aliaksei Protas — Justn Sourdif — Tom Wilson
Brandon Duhaime — Connor McMichael — Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime — Hendrix Lapierre — Ethen Frank
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary — John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun — Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin — Declan Chisholm
Goaltenders
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
Blue Jackets
Forwards
Dmitri Voronkov — Adam Fantilli — Kirill Marchenko
Miles Wood — Sean Monahan — Kent Johnson
Cole Sillinger — Charlie Coyle — Mathieu Olivier
Yegor Chinakhov — Brendan Gaunce — Isac Lundestrom
Defensemen
Zach Werenski — Ivan Provorov
Denton Mateychuk — Damon Severson
Jake Christiansen — Dante Fabbro
Goaltenders
Elvis Merzlikins
Jet Greaves
Pregame reading
Spencer Carbery’s patience with the Capitals’ power play has run out
In a flash, Capitals’ winning streak ends against Lightning
The newest Caps fan was born Thursday night. Her dad had three assists.
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