What seemed likely is now fact.
Capitals fourth-line center Nic Dowd did not take the team’s flight north of the border and will not play against the Ottawa Senators on Monday, per The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, after suffering a lower-body injury against the Calgary Flames over the weekend.
Dowd played over 14 minutes against the Flames on Saturday including a shift in overtime. He did not miss a game due to injury last season.
In Dowd’s absence, Hendrix Lapierre will get back into the lineup.
If the lines stay true from Sunday, Lapierre will center Conor Sheary and Daniel Sprong on the third line. Meanwhile, Connor McMichael took rushes on the second line along with Anthony Mantha and TJ Oshie. Lars Eller “dropped” down the lineup to center the fourth line, which takes the most difficult of the Capitals defensive assignments (and gives Evgeny Kuznetsov ample offensive zone starts).
Capitals lines/d-pairs at practice today:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-McMichael-Oshie
Sheary-Lapierre-Sprong
Hagelin-Eller-HathawayFehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz*Dowd is day to day with a lower-body injury
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) October 24, 2021
According to Pell, Ilya Samsonov will get the start in net after coming in relief of Vitek Vanecek against the Flames. Samsonov stopped 13 of 14 shots from the second period on, surrendering only the overtime game-winning goal to Elias Lindholm. Monday’s game was a scheduled start for Samsonov.
Ilya Samsonov will get the start in net tonight at Ottawa, per Head Coach Peter Laviolette. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/zQsoSruXpb
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 25, 2021
Dowd, who is classified as being out day-to-day, may be able to return as soon as Wednesday. The Capitals will fly back home to DC after Monday’s game, which will begin a two-game home stand against the Detroit Red Wings and Arizona Coyotes.
Screenshot: NBCSWSH
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