Evgeny Kuznetsov will not play against the Arizona Coyotes, Saturday night.
The Russian center was one of the first players to take the ice during the Capitals morning skate but did not take line rushes, according to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir.
Kuznetsov did not take the first line rush. Appears he’s out tonight in Arizona. #Caps https://t.co/t3tQUKF0nj
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 15, 2020
Later, Capitals head coach Todd Reirden confirmed Kuznetsov would miss his second straight game.
“Out tonight,” Reirden said. “Just wanted to see how things were going this morning. Still not at 100 percent so he’ll do some conditioning here and practice tomorrow and see if we can get him in the game against Vegas which is our hope.”
The Chelyabinsk native was originally hurt when he was crunched into the boards by Islanders forward Leo Komarov on Monday. Kuznetsov did not return to the game and missed practice the next day, before jumping on the ice after the Capitals’ morning skate on Thursday.
Lars Eller will replace Kuznetsov on the second line once again.
Capitals expected lines vs Coyotes:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Eller-Oshie
Hagelin-Boyd-Panik
Leipsic-Dowd-HathawayKempny-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
Siegenthaler-GudasHoltby
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 15, 2020
Kuznetsov was asked how close to 100 percent he is.
.@VogsCaps asked Kuznetsov if was 100 percent before the injury, how close he is to 100 percent now:
Kuznetsov: "110"
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 15, 2020
Kuznetsov has 19 goals and 46 points in 53 games this season.
