The Washington Capitals (8-7-1) finish their four-game road trip on Thursday night. They head to Sunrise to face the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers (8-7-1) at Amerant Bank Arena.
The puck drops at 7:00 p.m. ET.
The Capitals broke out of their slump on Tuesday night with a huge 4-1 win over Carolina. The team had dropped their first two games in the road trip before getting it together in Raleigh.
The Capitals really came to play against heated rival Carolina, as they never trailed and dominated on both 5-on-5 and special teams. Consider that game revenge for the second-round series in last years Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Because of their performance, head coach Spencer Carbery is sticking with the same lineups for both 5-on-5 and special teams units on Thursday.
The Capitals also announced Patrick Wellar as their new assistant coach on Wednesday. Wellar was previously an assistant coach for the teams AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears. He will work with the teams defensemen.
Meanwhile, despite coming off two consecutive Stanley Cup titles, Florida has been plagued by injuries. The team has been without Matthew Tkachuk (groin) and Sasha Barkov (knee), two of their top six forwards and best players.
Florida is coming off a four-game road trip on the West Coast in California and Vegas. The team went 2-2 as they concluded the trip with a 3-2 win over Vegas.
Florida will begin a five-game homestand and the beginning of a stretch in which they will play 11 of next 12 games at home. The team is 5-1-1 on their home ice this season.
Both teams are sitting at 8-7-1 with 17 points, three above the bottom and six from the top.
Forwards
Alex Ovechkin Dylan Strome Anthony Beauvillier
Aliaksei Protas Connor McMichael Tom Wilson
Ethen Frank Hendrix Lapierre Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime Nic Dowd Justin Sourdif
Defensemen
Martin Fehervary John Carlson
Jakob Chychrun Matt Roy
Rasmus Sandin Declan Chisholm
Goalie
Logan Thompson
Forwards
Eetu Luostarinen Anton Lundell Brad Marchand
Carter Verhaege Evan Rodrigues Sam Reinhart
Jesper Boqvist Sam Bennett Mackie Samoskevitch
A.J. Greer Cole Schwindt Luke Kunin
Defensemen
Gustav Forsling Aaron Ekblad
Niko Mikkola Seth Jones
Donovan Sebrango Jeff Petry
Goalie
Daniil Tarasov
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 The Fan/Caps Radio Network
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