The Washington Capitals took the ice at the Enterprise Center for their morning skate in St. Louis, Friday. They will take on the Blues hours later on that same ice at 8 PM (EST).

A notable absentee from the skate was goaltender Vitek Vanecek, who the team announced made the trip but is not skating due to a non-COVID illness.

The Caps re-assigned goaltender Zach Fucale to their taxi squad on Thursday so the team will not be short a goaltender if it is deemed that Vanecek needs to be replaced on this two-game road trip.

With Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie not traveling and now on injured reserve, the Caps lined up at the skate almost exactly as they did during Wednesday’s practice.

Notably, Connor McMichael will be the healthy scratch. McMichael has struggled to get much ice time in recent weeks from head coach Peter Laviolette. The lines come via The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell.

Garnet Hathaway is being tasked with first-line duty and Brett Leason has taken Garnet’s usual spot next to Nic Dowd on Laviolette’s favorite energy line. Conor Sheary and Tom Wilson will fill in on the top power-play unit with both Backstrom and Oshie out.

Top pairing defender Martin Fehervary was also officially activated from COVID protocol this morning by the Caps. He’ll line up in his usual slot next to John Carlson.

Ilya Samsonov will get his fourth start in a row per Pell. Samsonov is 13-2-3 on the season with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .908-save percentage.

Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB