The Washington Capitals jumped on the ice for an optional morning skate before their pre-Thanksgiving battle with the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. One notable participant at the practice was defenseman Martin Fehervary.
Fehervary donned a regular sweater, shedding the light blue, non-contact one that he was wearing last week at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The Slovak blueliner has missed the team’s last three games with an lower-body injury he suffered against the New Jersey Devils on November 10.
The Capitals placed Fehervary on injured reserve the day after his injury and he is still not on the active roster as of Wednesday morning. The team’s 23-man roster is currently full so a corresponding move would need to be made to activate Fehervary.
Fehervary had been skating on the team’s top defense pairing next to John Carlson before he got injured. Since then, that spot has changed hands between rookie defender Lucas Johansen and Rasmus Sandin. Sandin has been paired next to Carlson at recent practices.
Wednesday’s skate also saw Nic Dowd get back on the ice after he missed Tuesday’s practice for a maintenance day. Dowd returned from injury on November 10 after almost a month out of the lineup and has played in the team’s last four games.
Evgeny Kuznetsov was also present for the third-straight skate after he missed a game due to illness. On Tuesday, head coach Spencer Carbery said that Kuznetsov’s status for the game against Buffalo was still “to be determined”.
“He’s missed quite a bit of time just with being sick over the last couple weeks and having three days off of skating,” Carbery said then. “Skated the last couple days. We’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
Kuznetsov did not practice with either of the team’s power play units. Instead, his normal spot was occupied by Connor McMichael. McMichael has also kept his top-six center role despite Kuznetsov returning for Monday’s practice. Kuznetsov has been splitting third-line reps with Hendrix Lapierre.
The Sabres come into Wednesday night’s action sixth in the Atlantic Division. They last played on Sunday, grabbing a 3-2 win over Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks. Superstar center Tage Thompson will not play against the Capitals as he is out for the foreseeable future with a wrist injury.
Update 11:10 am: Fehervary stayed out for extra work after the skate. That typically means he will be a scratch for the night’s game.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
