Caps get Carlson, Orlov back for Monday's game vs. Vegas originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
The Capitals will get two significant players back on the blue line for Monday’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights as John Carlson and Dmitry Orlov are set to return.
“You’re talking about a couple of big pieces,” Washington head coach Peter Laviolette said.
Carlson last played on Jan. 15 and was placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol the following day. He is averaging 23:43 of ice time per game, the most ice time of anyone on the team.
Carlson said after the morning skate that he did not have any COVID symptoms while he was out.
“I thought [Carlson] looked really good out there so hopefully that’s a good thing,” Laviolette said.
Orlov will return to the lineup as well after serving a two-game suspension for kneeing Winnipeg Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers in a game Jan. 18.
“Good to get those guys back,” Laviolette said. “They take a lot of minutes. Really important to the team.”
Adding two top-four defensemen back into the lineup is a huge boon for the Caps who were without three of their top defensemen in Saturday’s 3-2 win against the Ottawa Senators. Nick Jensen, who left the Boston Bruins game with an upper-body injury on Jan. 20, was not on the ice for the morning skate and will miss his second straight game.
Laviolette labeled Jensen’s status as week-to-week.
Oshie was also absent Monday morning. His last game was Jan. 15 against the New York Islanders. He left with an upper-body injury after playing just 1:46.
Oshie has been limited to just 18 games this season. Monday will be the fifth straight game he has missed. Laviolette called him day-to-day.
Here are the lines from the morning skate:
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Conor Sheary
Connor McMichael – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson
Aliaksei Protas – Lars Eller – Brett Leason
Carl Hagelin – Nic Dowd – Garnett Hathaway
Martin Fehervary – John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov – Justin Schultz
Michal Kempny – Trevor van Riemsdyk
