The Washington Capitals defeated the New York Islanders 3-2 on Tuesday despite losing their top two centers, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller, to injury during the game. Tom Wilson also did not play.
Thursday, Backstrom and Wilson both returned, but Eller was unable to join the rest of his teammates out on the ice for the morning skate, necessitating new lines.
The biggest story is that TJ Oshie will replace Eller and center Conor Sheary and Richard Panik on the second line.
#Caps am skate lines ahead of NYI:
Vrana-Backstrom-Wilson
Sheary-Oshie-Panik
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Carr-Sgarbossa-Sprong
McMichaelDillon-Carlson
Chara-Schultz
Siegenthaler-Tvr
Fehervary-JensenVanecek
Anderson
Copley
*Eller is not on the ice— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) January 28, 2021
The Capitals’ full injured list includes Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, Brian Pinho, Dmitry Orlov, Michal Kempny, Henrik Lundqvist, and Ilya Samsonov.
Eller is considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Lars Eller is day-to-day with an upper body injury, per Capitals.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 28, 2021
As for Oshie, the veteran has all the skills to play center. He’s a playmaker, he’s good defensively, and he’s decent at face-offs. Oshie has taken the fifth most draws on the Capitals since 2014-15, winning 48.2 percent of his 1,122 attempts. Since 2019-20, his percentage has improved to nearly 50 percent.
Oshie will also center the Capitals’ first power-play unit.
Capitals' PP1: Carlson, Oshie, Vrana, Schultz, Backstrom
PP2: Chara, Wilson, Sprong, Panik, Sgarbossa
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 28, 2021
Vitek Vanecek will also earn his sixth start of the young season.
