Pregame Notes: Washington Capitals at. Carolina Hurricanes

 The Caps close out their road schedule in the preseason by heading down to Raleigh to take on the Hurricanes. The Caps are 3-0-1 in the preseason and will look to finish strong. Here is what the lineup should look like tonight.

Forwards:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Williams
Johansson-Burakovsky-Oshie
Chimera-Stephenson-Galiev
Laich-Latta-Collins

Defense and Goalies:

Alzner-Niskanen
Schmidt-Chorney
Stanton-Carrick

Holtby
Peters


Other Notes:

*Yesterday the Caps released Madison Bowey, Chris Bourque, Carter Camper, and Paul Carey to join the Hershey Bears camp. Bowey, who is one of the Caps best prospects was sent down so he can play a lot of minutes for the Bears.

*Justin Williams will get a chance to play on the top line tonight. It looks like Trotz wants to take a look before deciding if it will be Oshie or Williams on that line.

*Chandler Stephenson will get a chance to impress Barry Trotz some more tonight as he is in a battle with Derek Roy for the third line center job. Remember that Roy is a try out while Stephenson is under contract.

*The 7th defensemen battle continues has Taylor Chorney, Ryan Stanton, and Connor Carrick are in the lineup. If I had to guess I think Stanton is making a case for that position as he has experience from his time in Vancouver.

*Sean Collins has been a surprise this preseason and has survived the first round of cuts. He will have his chance to show what he's got tonight.

*Marcus Johansson will make his preseason debut tonight. Johansson has been fighting a minor injury for a couple of weeks but will get a chance to play tonight.

*Michael Latta is back in tonight after being banged up a bit as well. This is a big year for Latta who is trying to make his way in the NHL.

*It appears that Braden Holtby will start tonight. With only 3 games left in the preseason I would think at some point Holts will get a full game but not sure if it will be tonight. Regardless Justin Peters will back him up.

*Overall things are starting to take shape. The team has played well and hopefully that will continue. Last thing is Nick Backstrom practiced today, that is a good sign but he still does not have a time table for his return.


Gametime 7:00 pm and it is not being televised