The Washington Capitals will have three important players returning to the lineup against the Edmonton Oilers.
Tom Wilson, who missed Monday’s loss to the Winnipeg Jets due to an upper-body injury, will suit up on Wednesday night while Nic Dowd (upper body) and Martin Fehervary (lower body) will play for the first time in nine and 10 games respectively.
For Dowd and Fehervary, returning tonight was elementary as they were removed from the team’s injured reserve hours before puck drop.
The Capitals did announce one surprise. Aliaksei Protas will miss the game due to a lower-body injury he suffered late against the Chicago Blackhawks, blocking a Connor Bedard shot. He played through the injury on Monday against the Jets.
Capitals PR announced the updates on Twitter.
INJURY UPDATE: #Caps Aliaksei Protas (lower body) is out tonight against the Edmonton Oilers. Tom Wilson (upper body), Nic Dowd (upper body) and Martin Fehervary (lower body) are expected to return to the lineup.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 14, 2024
With Dowd and Fehervary back, Mike Sgarbossa and Alex Alexeyev will be the team’s healthy scratches.
Here’s how the team will line up.
Protas, who recently signed a five-year extension with the team, has played in 62 of 63 games heading into tonight. He has 28 points (5g 23a) on the season, including multi-point games in three of his last 11 outings.
Both the Capitals and Oilers enter tonight’s game 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. The Oilers sit second in the Pacific Division with 81 points while the Capitals are fifth in Metropolitan (69).
The matchup marks the Capitals’ second of a five-game road trip.
