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The New York Islanders visit the Washington Capitals this evening looking to salvage this three-game series and the season series with the Capitals. They will not see them for the rest of the regular season.
Ilya Sorokin, despite an off night on Saturday, will man the crease once again. Interestingly, though, Semyon Varlamov will not dress to back him up. Cory Schneider will sit on the end of the bench.
Varlamov not dressed for #Isles tonight. https://t.co/b6IaFTp8M6
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) April 27, 2021
Hopefully, it’s just a matter of getting Varlamov some rest and/or letting Schneider see the ice even a little bit, just in case he is needed in the postseason. But I cannot imagine that Schneider would come in tonight even if Sorokin bombed.
As for lines and the lineup, unfortunately, Barry Trotz may have removed Noah Dobson from the lineup, putting in his place Braydon Coburn—well, actually, Andy Greene would be in Dobson’s place, and Coburn would be in Greene’s place. Ye gods. Apparently, though, there is some confusion about that. And since it’s a national broadcast and a road game, we probably won’t find out until puck drop. But it definitely seems that Oliver Wahlstrom has drawn back into the lineup in exchange for Michael Dal Colle. And Trotz delivered on his promise to shake up the lines.
Wahlstrom in for Dal Colle tonight and #Isles start three new lines.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeAthletic) April 27, 2021
Roster report has Coburn as a scratch, so we’ll see what’s official in a bit. https://t.co/qNWrIh0g7L
As the preceding tweet hints, the Caps are hosting fans for the first time this season. But they will not get to see their superstar, Alex Ovechkin, for the second straight game.
Capitals lines vs NYI:
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) April 27, 2021
Sprong-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Backstrom-Oshie
Sheary-Eller-Raffl
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Orlov-Carlson
Dillon-TvR
Chara-Jensen
Vanecek (vs Sorokin)
Of course, that did not prove to be a problem on Saturday. But the Capitals do have Vitek Vanecek in net instead of Ilya Samsonov.