GAME DAY: Golden Knights’ center Paul Stastny out vs. Capitals

WASHINGTON — Golden Knights center Paul Stastny will not play Wednesday against the Washington Capitals and has been ruled out for the remainder of the road trip with a lower-body injury.

Center Cody Eakin is set to make his season debut for the Knights when they face the Capitals at 5 p.m. at Capital One Arena in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup Final. Eakin started the season on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

Stastny will miss the Knights’ final two games of the trip at Pittsburgh on Thursday and at Philadelphia on Saturday. Knights coach Gerard Gallant said Stastny will be re-evaluated when the team returns to Las Vegas.

“He’s going to be a little longer term than we thought,” Gallant said. “He’s not going to play the next three games and then we’ll know more next week when we get home.”

Stastny was injured late in the third period of the Knights’ 4-2 loss at Buffalo on Monday when Sabres center Jack Eichel dived to try to block a shot during a scramble in front of the net and slammed into Stastny’s right leg.

Stastny, who signed a three-year, $19.5 million contract as a free agent this summer, has yet to record a point and has a team-high six penalty minutes in three games.

Erik Haula is expected to move to center on the second line in place of Stastny, with Tomas Nosek bumping up to the right wing.

Golden Knights projected lineup

Forwards

Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty-Erik Haula-Tomas Nosek

Oscar Lindberg-Cody Eakin-Ryan Carpenter

William Carrier-Pierre-Edouard Bellemare-Ryan Reaves

Defensemen

Shea Theodore-Deryk Engelland

Brayden McNabb-Colin Miller

Jon Merrill-Nick Holden

Goaltender

Marc-Andre Fleury

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Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.