The Washington Capitals held their optional morning skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex ahead of Saturday night’s rivalry matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins. The well-attended brief practice was missing one notable figure, defenseman Jakob Chychrun.
The 26-year-old blueliner played 20:25 in Washington’s game against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday. Head coach Spencer Carbery expects Chychrun to dress against Pittsburgh despite his absence at the optional skate.
“Yeah, he should be good,” Carbery said.
Chychrun has been skating with Trevor van Riemsdyk on the team’s backend, also spending time on the Caps’ first power-play unit. Jakub Vrana subbed in for the defender during the first unit’s practice work at Saturday’s skate.
Outside of Chychrun’s availability, Carbery also confirmed that he expected to keep the lines he deployed towards the end of Thursday’s game in Ottawa, where he swapped Dylan Strome and Pierre-Luc Dubois back to the first and second lines, respectively.
“I anticipate it staying the same,” Carbery said.
Logan Thompson is set to get his fourth-straight start in net after putting up back-to-back shutouts against the Anaheim Ducks and Senators. In his last four starts, he has allowed just two goals on 107 shots faced.
Pittsburgh has picked up points in seven of their last 10 games, but just three have been wins. The Capitals lost their lone prior matchup with the Penguins this season, 4-2, on November 8.
Washington will wear their black Screaming Eagle uniforms for the fourth time this season; they will look to extend a perfect 3-0 record while wearing the jerseys in 2024-25.
Coaching staff also broke out some Screaming Eagle gear at morning skate today.
Caps will wear the Screagle jerseys for the fourth time this season tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins. pic.twitter.com/MmPULoM1Gm
— Katie Adler (@katieEadler) January 18, 2025
