When the Washington Capitals took the ice Monday morning for their morning skate at PPG Paints Arena, Nicklas Backstrom wasn’t there. Instead Lars Eller moved up to the second line while Travis Boyd centered the third line. Capitals coach Barry Trotz gave an update after the skate.

“That will be a game-time decision,” said Trotz.

When Trotz was asked about how much of a challenge that would be for the Capitals if Backstrom was indeed out, Trotz responded, “Game-time decision and if it’s not favorable, there’s a lot of guys that are willing to step up.”

Video below via Tarik El-Bashir of NBC Sports Washington:

Here’s Barry Trotz discussing Nicklas Backstrom’s status for tonight’s Game 6. #Caps #CapsPens #ALLCAPS #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/Ra5dGyISjW

— Tarik El-Bashir⌨️🎙🏒 (@TarikNBCS) May 7, 2018

Backstrom had a maintenance day Sunday but still traveled with the team to Pittsburgh. He left the third period of Game 5 with an upper-body injury but stopped taking face-offs in the first period after he blocked a shot with his hand. We’ll see how the lines will truly look during warmups tonight.

By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo

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Good news from Trotz’s press conference Sunday: John Carlson and Nicklas Backstrom will travel with the team to Pittsburgh. Carlson is okay and will play Monday. Backstrom had a maintenance day today and is expected to play Monday #ALLCAPS #RockTheRed #LetsGoCaps

A post shared by NoVa Caps (@nova_caps) on May 6, 2018 at 3:23pm PDT