The Washington Capitals and New York Rangers will kick off Game One of their first-round playoff series on Sunday afternoon. When the Capitals jump on the ice at Madison Square Garden for warmups, they’ll be joined by defensemen Rasmus Sandin and Nick Jensen.
Both veteran blueliners were sidelined at the end of the regular season with upper-body injuries and have not been full participants in practice since resuming skating. Head coach Spencer Carbery met with the media hours before puck drop revealing that both will be game-time decisions.
“Find out in warmup,” Carbery said.
Sandin suffered a reported head injury against the Ottawa Senators on April 7 and has not played since. The injury saw him miss the final five games of the regular season and necessitated a promotion of Alex Alexeyev to the Capitals’ second defense pair.
Alexeyev played over 21 minutes in each of the team’s final four games. His last two games came paired with former Rangers first-round draft pick Dylan McIlrath.
Jensen’s skate at practice on Thursday was his first since being stretchered off the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 13. He missed the season’s final two games, leading to McIlrath’s insertion into the lineup.
If Sandin and Jensen dress, here’s what the Capitals’ defense will likely look like.
The Capitals did run line rushes earlier this week without the two rearguards. If they both cannot play, here are those pairings.
Sandin and Jensen have a combined 31 games of NHL playoff experience. Alexeyev, McIlrath, Martin Fehervary, and Vincent Iorio have nine NHL playoff games amongst them and eight of them belong to Fehervary.
Puck drop for Game One is set for 3 pm.
