Washington Capitals lines and pairs for the season opener against Buffalo Sabers

The Washington Capitals lines are set for the opening of the 2020-21 season against the Buffalo Sabers on Thursday night.

The most notable change made by coach Peter Laviolette in the Capitals’ morning skateboard was to put Conor Sheary back on the third row for Daniel Sprong.

Capital lines on the AM skateboard:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Panik-Eller-Sheary
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Orlov-Carlson
Dillon-Schultz
Chara-Jensen

Extras: Sprong, Siegenthaler, TvR

– Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 14, 2021

Laviolette confirmed after the skate that Ilya Samsonov will start.

Ilya Samsonov is the first goalkeeper to come off the ice. A quick punch with Scott Murray and a conversation with Peter Laviolette before he left. https://t.co/d8rwKJiEL7

– Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 14, 2021

Title photo: Elizabeth Kong / RMNB