Projected NHL Lineups & Game Notes 05/19/18
The road team has swept the first four games of this Eastern Conference Finals, but the Tampa Bay Lightning will be looking to reverse that trend tonight.
Andrei Vasilevskiy struggled in Games 1 and 2 in the friendly confines of Amalie Arena, but absolutely stood on his head in D.C. Hopefully for the the Lightning’s sake, Vasilevskiy brought his A-game back with him on the flight home.
The Lightning won’t make any changes after winning back-to-back, but the Capitals will be shaking things up. Nicklas Backstrom will be bumped back up to the second line after playing on the third line in his return to the lineup in Game 4. Lars Eller, who played well with Backstrom out, has struggled with penalties in recent games and will move back down to centre the third line. Andre Burakovsky will take a seat tonight with Alex Chiasson coming back in on the fourth line.
Injury/Lineup Updates
IN
- – Alex Chiasson will draw back into the Capitals lineup for Game 4.
OUT
- – Andre Burakovsky will be a healthy scratch for Game 5.
Projected Lineups
Tampa Bay Lightning vs.Washington Capitals [Game 5]
 | L1: Ondrej Palat—Steven Stamkos—Nikita Kucherov L2: Tyler Johnson—Brayden Point—Yanni Gourde L3: Alex Killorn—Anthony Cirelli—J.T. Miller L4: Chris Kunitz—Cedric Paquette—Ryan Callahan D1: Victor Hedman—Dan Girardi D2: Ryan McDonagh—Anton Stralman D3: Braydon Coburn—Mikhail Sergachev G: Andrei Vasilevskiy |
 | L1: Alex Ovechkin—Evgeny Kuznetsov—Tom Wilson L2: Chandler Stephenson—Nicklas Backstrom—T.J. Oshie L3: Jakub Vrana—Lars Eller—Brett Connolly L4: Devante Smith-Pelly—Jay Beagle—Alex Chiasson D1: Michal Kempny—John Carlson D2: Dmitri Orlov—Matt Niskanen D3: Brooks Orpik—Christian Djoos G: Braden Holtby |
