Several familiar names are missing from Washington's lineup tonight. Following only their second home regulation loss of the season, the Capitals and Bruce Boudreau have elected to mix things up.
Eric Fehr, David Steckel, John Erskine and Tyler Sloan were all missing from the pre-game skate, and were all left off the lineup. According to Katie Carrera of the Washington Post, Sloan has now been placed on injured reserve.
Sloan, who has been bothered by a hip-flexor and groin strain at various times this season, played on Saturday against Atlanta and would be eligible to return to the lineup beginning on Dec. 12 against New York.
With so many veterans missing, the Capitals will turn to several young players to make an impact. Matthew Perreault has been called up from the Hershey Bears and will take a spot on the second line as the Capitals seek a replacement for Tomas Fleischmann. Tonight's game will also give us our first chance to see the defensive pairing of Tom Poti and newcomer Scott Hannan.
The complete lineup is as follows:
Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Knuble
Laich-Perreault-Semin
Chimera-Johansson-Bradley
King-Gordon-HendricksDefensemen
Schultz-Green
Alzner-Carlson
Poti-HannanGoal
Neuvirth
Varlamov