Capitals vs. Kings: Pairings Tweak, Lineup Notes, Injury Updates

The Washington Capitals will close out their California road swing in Los Angeles as they take on the Kings on Monday, where they'll try to put the same game plan as Saturday in place with some slight tweaks.

Washington (31-27-6) is coming off an 8-3 blowout win over the San Jose Sharks and have the chance to go 3-for-3 in Cali, but it won't be easy against former friend Pheonix Copley and L.A. (36-20-8), who have won three straight and seven of the last 10 contests.

The Capitals will stick with the same lineup they had on Saturday, but made some tweaks to the defensive pairings at morning skate, per The Athletic's Tarik El-Bashir. Alex Alexeyev and Vincent Iorio, who played together for a bit in San Jose, will be paired up together while Gabriel Carlsson will go to work with Matt Irwin. The top pairing of Rasmus Sandin and Trevor van Riemsdyk remains in place.

Iorio and Carlsson will remain in the mix after being recalled on Friday with Martin Fehervary and Nick Jensen dealing with respective lower and upper-body injuries. Both skated on Monday in non-contact jerseys, and their injuries aren't as severe as they initially thought.

Here are the projected lines:

Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Tom Wilson

Anthony Mantha-Nicklas Backstrom-T.J. Oshie

Sonny Milano-Dylan Strome-Craig Smith

Conor Sheary-Nic Dowd-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Matt Irwin-Gabriel Carlsson

Alex Alexeyev-Vincent Iorio

Darcy Kuemper will start in net.

Puck drop is at 10:30 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena.

Additional Game Notes

– Sandin is coming off a historic debut as he became the first defenseman in franchise history to record three points in his first game with the team. He has seven points in his last four outings overall.

– In fact, each defenseman making his Washington debut on Saturday recorded a point (Sandin, Carlsson and Iorio)

– In 24 career games against the Kings, Alex Ovechkin, who struck twice against the Sharks, has 11 goals and 10 assists.

– Tom Wilson has points in three of his last four outings.