The Hershey Bears lined up against the Rochester Americans without a key piece of their lineup on Friday night.
Bodan Trineyev, who has been skating on the team’s top line with Ilya Protas and Andrew Cristall, did not dress for the road matchup.
While the Bears are currently sporting a long list of injured players, Trineyev was not included among them on Friday. In his absence, Ivan Miroshnichenko was moved up from the second line to play with Protas and Cristall.
Trineyev played in Hershey’s 3-1 victory over the Americans at Blue Cross Arena on Wednesday. There were no reports that he was at all limited during the game.
Unless the 23-year-old missed out purely for maintenance-related reasons, his unexplained absence in the middle of Hershey’s road trip likely means something is afoot in DC with the Washington Capitals. The Capitals returned home from a season-long, six-game road trip on Friday, likely with a few players nursing injuries.
During the trip, the Capitals saw alternate captain Tom Wilson, defensemen Matt Roy and Rasmus Sandin, and goaltender Logan Thompson miss at least one game due to injury. Charlie Lindgren, subbing in for Thompson, was also seemingly hurt at the end of Thursday night’s 4-3 shootout victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
Wilson missed the club’s 5-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche at the outset of the trip, but then played in the five remaining games. However, he did miss a practice in Seattle due to being “banged-up” and was then listed as a game-time decision against the Kraken.
Before returning against the Vancouver Canucks last week, Wilson missed eight games with a lower-body injury that he suffered against the Chicago Blackhawks on January 3. While he finished the win over the Red Wings, Wilson notably limped to the Capitals’ bench multiple times throughout the game.
The Capitals are also rumored to have trade interest in star New York Rangers winger Artemi Panarin. The Rangers could deal Panarin ahead of the NHL’s Olympic-break roster freeze at 3 pm on February 4. After that point, all of the league’s trade activity will cease until 11:59 pm on February 22.
Trineyev recently signed a two-year, $1.8 million contract extension with the Capitals. He has spent two separate stints in the NHL with the Caps this year, making his NHL debut against the Winnipeg Jets on December 13. In 32 games this season for Hershey, the Russian winger has recorded 21 points (9g, 12a)
The Bears also had Garin Bjorklund, the team’s normal backup goaltender, sit second fiddle to recent recall Mitch Gibson. After playing the Americans, the Bears will head to Utica and play the Comets on Saturday night. The Capitals will also be in action, hosting the Carolina Hurricanes at Capital One Arena.
