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After a short visit back home, the Canes set out today for their longest trip of the preseason, heading to Washington before a pair of games against the Oilers in Edmonton and Saskatoon. Bill Peters indicated that the Canes would probably make between seven and 10 cuts between Wednesday’s game and tonight, and the number ended up being 13, none of which were any real surprises.
The Canes will ice a veteran lineup that includes Justin Williams’ return to Washington for the first time since signing with the Canes on July 1. Justin Faulk will make his first preseason appearance for the Hurricanes tonight, lining up alongside Jaccob Slavin on the top pairing. Lee Stempniak is still nursing an injury and remains the only NHL-probable skater to not have played this preseason.
Scott Darling was originally scheduled to play today but he isn’t on the roster, although Peters indicated that he will play in Edmonton on Monday. Instead, Cam Ward will go the distance tonight, with Jeremy Smith backing him up. Here’s how the Canes will line up:
Teuvo Teravainen - Jordan Staal - Justin Williams
Joakim Nordstrom - Marcus Kruger - Brock McGinn
Aleksi Saarela - Martin Necas - Janne Kuokkanen
Valentin Zykov - Lucas Wallmark - Julien Gauthier
Jaccob Slavin - Justin Faulk
Noah Hanifin - Roland McKeown
Klas Dahlbeck - Trevor Carrick
Cam Ward
Jeremy Smith
As for the Caps, they have been largely unimpressive to this point in the preseason, falling in a shutout to the St. Louis Blues 4-0 at the newly-rebranded Capital One Arena last night. They split a pair of road games to open their preseason schedule, falling to the Devils before defeating the Canadiens on Wednesday. They’ll likely be without Tom Wilson tonight, because of this:
The absence of crocodile tears from Canes fans disappointed to miss out on seeing Wilson tonight is duly noted. Here’s how the Caps will line up tonight:
Alex Ovechkin - Evgeni Kuznetsov - Alex Chiasson
Devante Smith-Pelly - Jay Beagle - Wayne Simpson
Jakub Vrana - Travis Boyd - Brett Connolly
Nathan Walker - John Albert - Riley Barber
Brooks Orpik - Connor Hobbs
Christian Djoos - Matt Niskanen
Jonas Siegenthaler - Dmitry Orlov
Philipp Grubauer
Pheonix Copley
Reading Assignments
- Jeff Skinner currently leads the poll on yesterday’s story asking who the Canes’ next captain should be. Coincidental timing, then, that Dan Rosen’s story naming Skinner the clubhouse leader dropped yesterday as well. [NHL.com]
- If you read one story today, make it this one from The Athletic’s Craig Custance (free for non-subscribers) about a special bond between the Red Wings’ Riley Sheahan and a special young man. [The Athletic]
- Think there have been too many slashing penalties? Quit whining. [Puck Daddy]
- New Hurricanes club ambassador Erik Cole joined SiriusXM NHL Network Radio to talk about his career and his new job: