The Washington Capitals will be without alternate captain Tom Wilson against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night.
Wilson will miss the game due to the lower-body injury he suffered against the Chicago Blackhawks this past weekend. After evaluation from the team’s training staff, the Capitals say Wilson dodged a worst-case scenario, and head coach Spencer Carbery officially announced the winger was out day-to-day when speaking to the media.
“I mean, when someone goes down or is being helped off the ice, you’re hoping that it’s just something that they can go in, get checked out, and come back out,” Carbery said after the team’s morning skate. “But also, when you see situations like that, you get a little bit worried when someone can’t put weight on their leg, like Willy in that scenario. So your mind goes to, ‘Oh, geez, is this something bad?’ So, thankful that it’s just day-to-day and won’t play tonight, but we’ll see how he is tomorrow.”
The game will mark the second Wilson has missed this season. He was also held out of a game against the New York Rangers on December 23 due an illness.
Wilson was injured early in Washington’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Blackhawks on Saturday, when his right leg got caught underneath him after a hit from defenseman Connor Murphy. The 31-year-old winger has missed two skates since then. He is the Capitals’ leading scorer with 42 points (22g, 20a) in 41 games.
Alongside Wilson’s absence, the Caps will again have a few game-time decisions to monitor before puck drop. Aliaksei Protas, who missed Saturday’s loss with a lower-body injury, was a full participant at the morning skate and will be one of those game-time decisions.
While Carbery did not confirm his inclusion, defenseman Dylan McIlrath is slated to get a jersey against the Ducks. McIlrath will slide in on the team’s third defense pairing, with Trevor van Riemsdyk sitting out as a healthy scratch.
Charlie Lindgren will lead the Capitals out onto the ice as he gets his 13th start of the year. Lindgren’s last outing was a winning one on New Year’s Eve against the New York Rangers, in which he made 22 saves on 25 shots faced. Overall this season, Lindgren is 6-4-2 with a 3.07 goals-against average, a .887 save percentage, and one shutout.
“Charlie will start,” Carbery said. “Just based on the schedule and game flow and where we’re at, he’ll go tonight.”
The Ducks come into Monday night’s game having lost five straight, with their last defeat a 5-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild last Friday. Anaheim beat the Capitals in California at the start of last month, prevailing 4-3 in a shootout.
