The Washington Capitals held a morning skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in preparations for their game against the Chicago Blackhawks at Capital One Arena. Action from 7th and F Street can be seen on NBC Sports Washington starting at 7 PM. Here are all of the news from Wednesday’s morning skate: 

Forwards Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie each missed the morning skate, meaning both will miss their third consecutive games with upper-body injuries (possible concussions). Neither has participated in a practice or morning skate since suffering the injury.

Neither Oshie nor Kuznetsov are skating this morning. They were expected to be out tonight anyway, but not great that they haven’t skated yet.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 21, 2018

Reirden:
“Nothing new. They’re day to day and they’ll stay that way, I guess, until they get back on the ice. Then, I can update you some more.” https://t.co/8pz0Y1MoqI

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) November 21, 2018

Despite winning two games in a row and winning three of four, the Capitals switched up their line combinations with Oshie and Kuznetsov still out but still kept their defensive pairings the same.

In news unrelated to the morning skate or the game, the 2019 Capitals Canine Calendars are now available. You can order yours here.

THEY’RE HERE BOYS AND GIRLS AND BABES (AND PUPS)! #ALLCAPS @MSEFndn‘s 2019 #CapsCanineCalendar benefitting @HomewardTrails is available for online order NOW at https://t.co/LtxIFeUnvXhttps://t.co/eyy8rEZBvL

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) November 21, 2018

Capitals Lines vs. Blackhawks

Caps lines:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Burakovsky-Boyd-DSP
Jaskin-Dowd-Stephenson

Kempny-Carlson
Orlov-Niskanen
Djoos-Bowey

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) November 21, 2018

Shavings 

-Forward Tom Wilson has scored four goals and eight points in his past three games against the Blackhawks; he’s averaging 20:11 minutes per game, 4:12 more per game than his previous single-season high set last year

-The Capitals have won seven consecutive home games against Chicago

-Center Nicklas Backstrom, who has recorded 10 points (four goals) in his last nine games, leads the Capitals in assists this season (17) and is tied for ninth in the NHL

-Captain Alex Ovechkin has tallied 17 points (nine goals) in 16 career games against the Blackhawks and has earned 13 points (six goals) in his last 11 games against Chicago

-Defenseman Dmitry Orlov has six points (two goals) in his last four games and became the 15th defenseman in franchise history to record 100 career assists

-Ovechkin’s two goals against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday put him at 15 goals for this season, which leads the Capitals and ranks second in the NHL

-The Capitals have scored 11 more goals through the first 20 games this season than they did last season (2017-18: 56 goals; 2018-19: 67 goals), have a +10 better goal differential (2017-18 goal differential: – 9; 2018-19 goal differential: +1) and a power play that is 10.3% more successful than last season (2017-18: 19.4%; 2018- 19: 29.7%)

Capitals Today

CAPS TODAY: Alex Ovechkin, scored two goals against Montreal on Monday. That marked Ovechkin’s 125th career multi-goal game, placing him ahead of Steve Yzerman (124) and into a tie with Dino Ciccarelli (125) for the 11th-most in NHL history. More info on https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/j6DSrQTniE

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 21, 2018

Game Notes

GAME NOTES: The Capitals come back home for a Wednesday night matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks tomorrow night. https://t.co/qZeMu5lsul pic.twitter.com/cM1OjYQGeh

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) November 21, 2018

By Harrison Brown