The Washington Capitals will take on the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night and will be without center Evgeny Kuznetsov. Kuznetsov is coming back out of the lineup for the third time this season due to an illness.
Kuznetsov will be replaced in the team’s lineup by rookie forward Matthew Phillips. Phillips has not played since the Capitals’ 5-4 shootout loss to the Dallas Stars on December 7.
The news was released by the Capitals on their PR Twitter account.
#Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov is out for tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers due to illness.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 14, 2023
Kuznetsov has been in the Capitals’ lineup for the past three games after sitting out in Arizona against the Coyotes as a healthy scratch. In those three games, he has recorded two points (1g, 1a) and centered a line with Sonny Milano and TJ Oshie.
That line will now look very different against the Flyers as both Kuznetsov and Milano will not dress. Milano was placed on injured reserve early on Thursday and Joe Snively was recalled from the AHL’s Hershey Bears to fill his roster spot.
Phillips will now center the third line with Snively and Oshie on his wings. Oshie can also fill in down the middle as he did several times for Peter Laviolette’s Capitals in recent seasons.
Lineys!#CapsFlyers | @JackDaniels_US pic.twitter.com/ENUIGy094n
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 14, 2023
Kuznetsov ranks sixth on the Capitals in scoring this season with his 11 points (5g, 6a) from 22 games. The 31-year-old Russian pivot was one of the Capitals’ most durable players last season, which makes his struggle with illness this year somewhat strange. Among all Capitals’ skaters last season, he was one of only three players to play in more than 80 games.
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
