I have no idea what to make of this one. It was rough.
As part of the changes promised by coach Barry Trotz, Ilya Sorokin was moved to the taxi squad and Cory Schneider was elevated to backup. There was some cap maneuvering going on with that move, but it potentially became a relevant part of the game.
Also, both Oliver Wahlstrom and Kieffer Bellows drew into the lineup, skating on a line with Jean-Gabriel Pageau.
The Capitals, because of COVID-19 protocols, still lacked Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov, and goalie Ilya Samsonov. But they added Lars Eller to their list of scratched players, stemming from the ugly hit put on him by Leo Komarov two nights ago.