Capitals-Panthers news and notes: Tom Wilson out for Game 2; Florida makes lineup change

The Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers will hit the ice on Thursday night for Game 2 of their first round series at 7:30 p.m. ET.

In case you missed it, the Washington Capitals took Game 1 by a score of 4-2 after a three-goal third period courtesy of Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, and Lars Eller.

But the Capitals may be without power forward Tom Wilson, who opened the scoring in Game 1. He left the game after playing less than two minutes, due to a lower-body injury.

Wilson is day-to-day according to head coach Peter Laviolette, but with Washington calling up rookie forward Brett Leason from the AHL Hershey Bears, it seems like the 28-year-old could be missing out on Game 2 tonight.

The Capitals have called up rookie F Brett Leason ahead of Game 2 tonight. Leason played in 36 games for the Caps this season: 3G, 3A.

This doesn't seem to signal great things for Tom Wilson (lower body), who Laviolette said was a game-time decision for tonight. We'll see soon.— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) May 5, 2022

UPDATE: Tom Wilson will NOT play in Game 2 according to Capitals Head Coach Peter Laviolette.

Tom Wilson (lower body) is indeed out for Game 2 tonight, Coach Peter Laviolette confirmed. #Caps— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) May 5, 2022

As for the Florida Panthers, who were heavily favoured coming into Game 1, they've made one lineup change going into Game 2. Noel Acciari will draw in for Ryan Lomberg on the fourth line.

Meanwhile, Sam Reinhart and Claude Giroux have flipped spots in the lineup, with Reinhart moving up to the second line with Sam Bennett and Jonathan Huberdeau, and Claude Giroux drops to the third line with Mason Marchment and Anton Lundell.

Here is the Panthers' projected lineup for Game 2 according to NHL.com's Tom Gulitti:

Verhaeghe-Barkov-Duclair
Huberdeau-Bennett-Reinhart
Marchment-Lundell-Giroux
Acciari-Luostarinen-Hornqvist

Weegar-Ekblad
Forsling-Gudas
Chiarot-Montour

The Bob
Knight

So Acciari in for Lomberg and Reinhart and Giroux flip lines. https://t.co/vZM3kyB2Tq— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) May 5, 2022

Puck drop for Game 2 at FLA Live Arena is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and can be watched on Sportsnet360 in Canada and TBS in the United States.

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