Pierre-Luc Dubois won't dress for the Capitals tonight, and the Canadiens just caught a break in Washington.
The forward is still ill, didn't skate Wednesday, and remains day-to-day. Matt Roy is out too, missing a fifth straight game with a lower-body injury.
That's two bodies gone from a Washington team that dropped a 4-2 decision in Carolina last night. The Capitals have now lost two straight.
And the list of headaches isn't finished. Per Sammi Silber, a “bunch” of lineup decisions still need sorting before puck drop.
Nobody wants that on the second half of a back-to-back. Spencer Carbery is building a lineup on short notice while his group comes off a road loss.
Dubois isn't a throwaway piece, either. He has 4 points through 4 games with a +4 rating, all on an $8,500,000 cap hit.
Montreal walks in riding something. The Canadiens have won two straight, both in shootouts, the latest a 4-3 decision over Buffalo on Tuesday night.
Lane Hutson gets a shot at a thinned-out Capitals blue line
Without Roy, Washington leaned on Martin Fehervary for 24:33 in Carolina. Justin Holl, dressing for the first time this season, scored in 12:05 of ice time.
Jakob Chychrun spent 4 minutes in the box last night. That matters against a Montreal power play that just scored Tuesday.
Lane Hutson buried that one, and he played 27:07 against the Sabres. Martin St-Louis has every reason to lean on him hard again tonight.
Think of a restaurant on a Saturday night with two cooks out. The kitchen still opens, but every ticket backs up a little more.
Bluntly, Montreal has no business leaving D.C. without points tonight. Not against a lineup this unsettled.
Nick Suzuki leads the way with 8 points through 6 games. The captain also fired 5 shots on goal Tuesday.
Cole Caufield has 3 goals in his last 5 games. He added a goal and an assist against Buffalo.
On the other bench, who picks up the slack? Ryan Leonard leads Washington with 6 points and set up both goals in Carolina.
The bigger contracts haven't followed. Jordan Kyrou sits at a -6 rating on an $8,125,000 cap hit, which is a rough return for that kind of money.
Alexander Ovechkin, now 41, has 1 goal through 6 games. Alex Tuch has scored only once over his last 5.
Montreal has its own leaks, though. The Canadiens are allowing 3.7 goals per game, and Michael Matheson did not dress Tuesday and remains day-to-day with a lower-body injury.
Ivan Demidov is also on injured reserve, not expected back until at least Oct. 31.
The crease is another open question. Jacob Fowler went the full 65:00 last night, stopping 14 of 17 shots before winning it in the shootout.
Washington has its own call to make. Logan Thompson faced 34 shots in Carolina, while Charlie Lindgren carries a .931 save percentage in limited work.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams this season. Montreal sits one point ahead of Washington in the standings heading into tonight.
So here's the real tension. If the Canadiens can't take points off a Capitals lineup missing this much, what does that say about a team giving up goals at this rate?
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Is anything less than a win in Washington a failure for the Canadiens tonight?
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