Capitals vs. Lightning: Lines, Who To Watch, What To Know

ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals will be in for a tough matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday as they look to rebound from a tough loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Washington (6-7-2) will face Tampa (7-5-1) for the first time this season. Both teams are fresh off a loss, but the Lightning are 6-3-1 in its last 10 games, while the Capitals have dropped four of their last five.

Here are the lines:

Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Conor Sheary

Sonny Milano-Dylan Strome-Marcus Johansson

Anthony Mantha-Lars Eller-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Aliaksei Protas-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson-John Carlson

Martin Fehervary-Nick Jensen

Trevor van Riemsdyk-Matt Irwin

John Carlson was taking rushes but is a game-time decision. Dmitry Orlov won’t play and will remain day-to-day.

Meanwhile, assistant coach Kevin McCarthy will be the head coach on Friday, as Peter Laviolette is on COVID-19 protocol. Darcy Kuemper will start, marking his first game against the Bolts since beating them in the Stanley Cup Final.

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When it comes to players to watch, keep an eye on Alex Ovechkin. The 37-year-old has points in six of his last seven games and goals in three of his last four. Also look out for Sonny Milano, who picked up his first assist of the year on Wednesday and has been generating quite a few chances of late. In addition, Conor Sheary and Dylan Strome has picked up a few quality chances of late, so watch for them as well.

On the Tampa side of the coin, Nikita Kucherov is the biggest threat. The 29-year-old has points in all but one game this season and has found the scoresheet in all 11 games since Oct. 14. Brayden Point is also on a five-game point streak, with multi-point outings in four of those games. Steven Stamkos also has points in three of his last four games.

The puck drops at 7 p.m. ET at Capital One Arena. The game can be streamed on NBC Sports Washington.