Spencer Carbery explains why Sonny Milano will be in lineup for second game in a row against Predators

Sonny Milano will be in the Washington Capitals’ lineup for a second consecutive game against the Nashville Predators on Wednesday night. Milano had been a healthy scratch for nine straight games before head coach Spencer Carbery gave him a sweater against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday.

Washington is 0-2 in those two games. Milano has yet to record a point and is a minus-3. By comparison, Jakub Vrana, who replaced Milano after the Capitals’ opening-night defeat to the New Jersey Devils, has four points (2g, 2a) in nine games, and Washington is 8-1 in those games.

After the club’s morning skate, Carbery was asked what made him decide to give Milano another game. The 28-year-old winger will skate on the team’s third line with Hendrix Lapierre and Andrew Mangiapane.

“I thought he was okay in Carolina for the limited amount of minutes that he played, and I didn’t think it was a fair evaluation of him and for him to be penalized or judged upon on that game,” Carbery said. “I just didn’t think it was fair. And, partly, that is on me – lack of opportunity. I take full responsibility for that. So, that’s something I can’t hold against him.

“He can only do what he can do when he’s out on the ice, and I’m the person that puts him out in those situations. So, I felt like he did some good things in that game in the limited ice that he got. So he deserves another opportunity to play.”

Milano skated only 5:46 of ice time against the Hurricanes, just six seconds less than the 5:52 he saw against the Devils in his season debut. The 5:49 average ice time in the two games is a far cry from the 12:30 he averaged over 49 games last season.

Since joining the Capitals during the 2022-23 campaign, Milano has only played less than 8:37 of ice time in four games. Two of those games this season, one benching in Anaheim last season (5:10), and the last due to a mid-game injury suffered last March (2:37).

Milano recorded a new career-high in goals last year (15) and was on pace for an overall career-best season offensively until an injury kept him out of the lineup for over two months.

With Vrana playing this season, the third line has been excellent five-on-five. With that unit on the ice, Washington is seeing 57.5 percent of the shot attempts, 61.7 percent of the expected goals, 57.2 percent of the scoring chances, and 63.1 percent of the high-danger chances.

Carbery will hope that they continue to post similar results with Milano now in for Vrana. The three shared the ice for just 4:37 of ice time in the loss to Carolina.