The Washington Capitals are set to take on the Philadelphia Flyers at home on Tuesday night. It looks like they’ll do so without arguably their best defenseman.
The team hit the ice for their morning skate but did so without Dmitry Orlov. The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir reports that the Russian defenseman is nursing a lower-body injury.
Orlov played 18:06 of ice time in Sunday’s win over the Boston Bruins. He did not miss a shift during the game so there was no prior indication of an injury.
Trevor van Riemsdyk filled in for Orlov on the second defense pairing next to Nick Jensen at the skate. Matt Irwin has also jumped onto the third pairing with Justin Schultz. Via El-Bashir, the rest of the lines look like this:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Johansson-Backstrom-Oshie
Mantha-Eller-Wilson
Larsson-Dowd-Hathaway
Fehervary-Carlson
TVR-Jensen
Irwin-Schultz
Orlov and Jensen normally take the toughest assignments in terms of opposing personnel. In the last three games, they saw over five minutes of Patrice Bergeron’s line, over seven minutes of Sidney Crosby’s line, and over ten minutes of Nikita Kucherov’s line. If Orlov is out for any longer than just one game, TVR will likely need to get adjusted to that role very quickly.
The other notable omission from the lineup is Connor McMichael. This news comes despite him being the team’s best full-time player analytically at five-on-five this season. With McMichael on the ice under that context, the Caps see 53.6-percent of the shot attempts, 58-percent of the expected goals, 55.9-percent of the scoring chances, and 57.4-percent of the high danger chances.
Axel Jonsson-Fjallby and Michal Kempny will join McMichael in the pressbox against the Flyers. Neither has played since the 6-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on March 28.
El-Bashir also reports that Ilya Samsonov appears likely to get the start in net after backstopping the Caps to two out of its three big, recent Eastern Conference wins. Samsonov let in six goals on 60 shots faced in those two starts and still holds just a .899 save percentage this season.
The Flyers are just one point ahead of the New Jersey Devils for last in the Metropolitan Division. They were big sellers at the deadline as they let go of Claude Giroux, German Rubtsov, Connor Bunnaman, Justin Braun, Derick Brassard, and Gerry Mayhew through trade and waivers.
The Capitals will be attempting to extend their winning streak to four games.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
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