After coming on in relief of Pheonix Copley on Monday and shutting out the Canadiens, Braden Holtby returns to the starters cage Wednesday night against the Chicago Blackhawks. It’s his first start since he was diagnosed with an upper-body injury that prevented him from playing against the Winnipeg Jets.
Unfortunately, TJ Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov are still out. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan confirmed Oshie had a concussion while talking with Pierre LeBrun and Scott Burnside on the Athletic’s hockey podcast Two-Man Advantage, but Kuznetsov’s upper-body injury has yet to be confirmed as a concussion.
Capitals morning skate today (vs. Chicago tonight):
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Stephenson-Boyd-DSP
Jaskin-Dowd-StephensonOrlov-Niskanen
Kempny-Carlson
DJ Oos-BoweyHoltby
Copley— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) November 21, 2018
Oshie and Kuznetsov were not on the ice for the morning skate, and although they weren’t expected to play tonight, the fact that the two still have not taken to the ice is concerning.
Neither Oshie nor Kuznetsov are skating this morning. They were expected to be out tonight anyway, but not great that they haven’t skated yet.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 21, 2018
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong
