The Washington Capitals will get a boost in the lineup when they take on the Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena, Thursday.

Per the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, defenseman Justin Schultz participated in the morning skate and appears set to return to game action. Schultz had been out injured since suffering an upper-body injury against the Montreal Canadiens on November 24.

Schultz skated with Trevor van Riemsdyk on the third pairing during practice. Dennis Cholowski, who had played four games recently, was an extra.

Daniel Sprong will also return to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the last two games.

Capitals lines

Here were the Capitals’ lines during the morning skate via Pell.

Peter Laviolette announced after practice that Vitek Vanecek would be back in the net after Ilya Samsonov received the last four starts.

Injured veteran forwards Nicklas Backstrom (lower body), TJ Oshie (lower body), and Conor Sheary (upper body) all skated this morning as well, but wore non-contact jerseys and will not play. But the good news is that all three could be back soon. The Capitals posted practice photos of all three players.

file under things that spark joy pic.twitter.com/fBiQ17Kjsl

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 2, 2021

After three straight games against Florida (2) and Carolina — two of the top teams in the NHL, the Capitals will face an opponent whose degree of difficulty is much less. Chicago is 7-12-2 this season, good for the second least standings points in the West (16), but they have been better lately, posting a 6-4-0 record in their last 10 games.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB