Carolina Hurricanes vs. Washington Capitals: Lineups and Game Discussion

The Carolina Hurricanes will take to the ice for the first time in 2020 with the second and final home matchup against the division-leading Washington Capitals. The second meeting in less than a week in Raleigh finds these two rivals each in a playoff position (and currently they would square off against one another) in what has become a very difficult Metropolitan Division.

Petr Mrazek will once again be in net for the Canes, looking to win his second game of the year (and second of the week) against Washington. Warren Foegele had a career night against the Caps last week, tallying three points in the Canes 6-4 victory. With Erik Haula back on the lineup, the Canes are officially back to what would be considered full strength, and with rumors swirling of a potential Justin Williams return, the Canes clearly are working to increase their depth for what they hope is another deep run into Spring.

Below is the lineup for Rod Brind’Amour:

Nino Niederreiter - Sebastian Aho - Teuvo Teravainen
Andrei Svechnikov - Jordan Staal - Warren Foegele
Ryan Dzingel - Erik Haula - Martin Necas
Brock McGinn - Lucas Wallmark - Jordan Martinook

Jaccob Slavin - Dougie Hamilton
Jake Gardiner - Brett Pesce
Joel Edmundson - Haydn Fleury

Petr Mrazek
James Reimer

Injuries and Scratches: Trevor van Riemsdyk (healthy)

With coach Todd Rierden joining John Carlson and Braden Holtby as Metropolitan Division All-Stars, it is clear to see that the Caps are yet again a legit force in the Eastern Conference. Tied for the best record in the NHL, the Caps enter play Friday on the first little bump in the road that they have encountered in at least a few months. Losers of two in a row and three of their past four, the Caps still maintain a six point cushion in the Metro, but have had trouble keeping the puck out of their net in their previous three defeats as they have yielded 17 goals in those three contests.

The Caps may again be without defenseman Christian Djoos as he deals with the upper body injury he aggravated in Raleigh last weekend. Although they have not officially released a lineup other than confirming Ilya Samsonov will get the start in goal, below is the projected group for the Caps:

Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Tom Wilson
Jakub Vrana - Evgeny Kuznetsov - T.J. Oshie
Carl Hagelin - Lars Eller - Richard Panik
Brendan Leipsic - Nic Dowd - Garnet Hathaway

Jonas Siegenthaler - John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov - Nick Jensen
Michal Kempny - Radko Gudas

Ilya Samsonov
Braden Holtby

Injuries and Scratches: Christian Djoos (Upper Body), Travis Boyd (healthy)