Capitals Game Day: McMichael, Irwin In vs. Canes As Injuries Pile Up

The Washington Capitals will close out their road trip on Halloween night against the high-flying Carolina Hurricanes, and it looks like they’ll do so without two stars in the lineup.

T.J. Oshie is now out indefinitely for Washington, while John Carlson is day-to-day. Both suffered lower-body injuries in the first period of Saturday’s win over the Nashville Predators.

FULL UPDATE: Washington Capitals’ T.J. Oshie Out Indefinitely, Carlson Day-To-Day With Lower-Body Injuries

With those two out of the mix, Connor McMichael will get the call and slot into the Oshie spot, while Matt Irwin will make his season debut on the blue line. In turn, Trevor van Riemsdyk will move up to the first pairing to operate with Dmitry Orlov.

Here are the projected lines for Monday’s tilt, per The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell:

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Conor Sheary

Marcus Johansson-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Connor McMichael

Aliaksei Protas-Lars Eller-Anthony Mantha

Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway

Dmitry Orlov-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Martin Fehervary-Nick Jensen

Erik Gustafsson-Matt Irwin

Joe Snively is the only scratch and extra available.

Darcy Kuemper was also first off the ice and will make his third straight start. Charlie Lindgren is expected to make his home debut on Tuesday against the Vegas Golden Knights.

With the Capitals shorthanded, look for Alex Ovechkin and more to step up. Ovechkin picked up his fourth goal of the season in the team’s Saturday win on an empty-netter. Also watch for Aliaksei Protas, who has three points in his last three games. The powerhouse fourth line has also been impressive, with Nic Dowd racking up points and Beck Malenstyn dishing two points in three games so far as he seamlessly slots in on that trio.

On the Hurricanes side of the matchup, keep an eye on Martin Necas, who has goals in back-to-back games, is on a three-game point streak and has points in four of his last five games. He leads Carolina in scoring. Sebastian Aho also has points in six of his last seven outings, and Andrei Svechnikov and offseason acquisition Brent Burns are also key names to monitor.