The Washington Capitals returned to practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Thursday following a day off on Wednesday. The Capitals play their home opener on Friday when they host the Buffalo Sabres at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:07 PM.

Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Ilya Samsonov did not participate in Capitals practice today, after being added to the NHL’s COVID-19-related absences list on Wednesday.

Prospect Connor McMichael joined the Capitals taxi squad on Thursday, and had his first workout with the team. The Capitals also recalled goaltender Craig Anderson from the taxi squad to the active roster.

Connor McMichael, Martin Fehervary, Brian Pinho and Craig Anderson skated with the NHL group this morning.

McMichael, Fehervary, Pinho are skating with the NHL group. Anderson is also out there, too, obviously. #Caps pic.twitter.com/lUQtiNUpNl

— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) January 21, 2021

Lines at Thursday’s practice:

Capitals lines and D at practice today:

Vrana-Backstrom-Wilson
Panik-Eller-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Sprong-Pinho-Sheary

Dillon-Carlson
Siegenthaler-Schultz
Chara-Jensen

Vanecek
Anderson

Extra: van Riemsdyk, Fehervary, McMichael

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) January 21, 2021

The Capitals power play lines were also reworked on Thursday:

Capitals practicing power play now with Oshie in Ovechkin’s usual spot on the left circle on the first unit.

PP1: Carlson, Oshie, Backstrom, Vrana, Wilson.

PP2: Schultz, Sprong, Eller, Sheary, Panik.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) January 21, 2021

It looks like Brian Pinho and Jonas Siegenthaler could get their first starts of the season on Friday. Conor Sheary could return to the lineup as well.

Any recalls from the taxi squad must be made by 5:00 p.m. today in order for a taxi squad player to play in tomorrow’s game against Buffalo.

SHAVINGS

• Tom Wilson is tied with Alex Ovechkin for the team lead with five points (3g, 2a) in the Capitals first four games of the season.
  
• This is the second time of his career Wilson has recorded five points in his first four games of the season (2018-19: 1g, 4a).
  
• Last season, Wilson set career highs in assists (23) and points (44), despite only playing 68 games. Additionally, Wilson set career highs in power play goals (5), game-winning goals (5) and shots (154).
  
• Wilson’s 22 hits this season rank third in the NHL. Since his rookie season in 2013-14, Wilson’s 1,619 hits rank fifth among forwards in the NHL, and over the last four seasons, Wilson is the only player in the NHL who has accumulated at least 400 penalty minutes (410) and recorded 100 points (124).

By Jon Sorensen