The Washington Capitals were back to work Sunday morning for gameday morning skate at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia. The Capitals and Flyers kick-off  their three-game set tonight with puck drop set for just after 7:00 PM. Here’s the latest from the City of Brotherly Love.

The Capitals face the Philadelphia Flyers tonight for the second time this season (0-1-0). The Capitals have won three of their last four road games against Philadelphia (3-1-0), dating back to March 6, 2019. (Series preview here.)

MORNING SKATE

Lines
Daniel Sprong will replace Tom Wilson in the lineup.

Capitals lines in AM skate:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Sprong
Panik-Eller-Sheary
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Dillon-Carlson
Orlov-Schultz
Chara-Jensen

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) March 7, 2021

Ilya Samsonov will get the start in goal.

Laviolette: Ilya Samsonov will start in goal tonight against the Flyers. #ALLCAPS

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) March 7, 2021

WILSON SUSPENSION

Head coach Peter Laviolette said he did not know if Tom Wilson will appeal his suspension. Alex Ovechkin Ovechkin described the suspension as “kind of a joke”.

Alex Ovechkin describes Tom Wilson getting a seven-game suspension for boarding Boston’s Brandon Carlo as “kind of a joke.”

Ovechkin agreed with the call on the ice. Didn’t think the hit even warranted two minutes.

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) March 7, 2021

MEDIA AVAILABILITY

Alex Ovechkin

T.J. Oshie and Lars Eller

Peter Laviolette

PENALTY KILL

• The Capitals’ penalty kill went two-for-two against Boston’s 11th-ranked power play (25.0 percent) on Friday, marking the third-straight game in which the Capitals did not give up a power play goal.
• Since. Feb. 25, Washington has killed off 13 of 14 (92.9 percent) opposing power play opportunities, which is tied for the third-highest penalty kill percentage in the NHL during that span.
• Since Feb. 25, the Capitals have allowed 11 total shots on goal while on the penalty kill, per Natural Stat Trick. That is tied for the third-fewest shorthanded shots against in the NHL during that span.
• Additionally, the Capitals rank first in the NHL in shorthanded faceoff win percentage (66.7 percent) dating back to Feb. 25. Nic Dowd leads the Capitals and the NHL in shorthanded faceoff win percentage in that span, having won 11 of 14 (78.6 percent) shorthanded faceoffs.

NICKLAS BACKSTROM 

• Nicklas Backstrom became the first player in franchise history to reach the 700-assist last mark against the Boston Bruins.
• Backstrom became the second fastest active player (Sidney Crosby, PIT: 856 games) and the 23^rd fastest player in NHL history to reach the 700-assist mark in his 979^th career game.
  
• In addition, Backstrom became the 25^th player in NHL history to reach the milestone before his 1,000^th NHL game. Of the 24 players to accomplish this feat, 23 are in the Hockey Hall of Fame.
• Among the top-five assist leaders in franchise history, three are currently on the Capitals (Backstrom; Alex Ovechkin: 582a, 2nd; John Carlson: 387a, 5th). Excluding the Vegas Golden Knights, only the Columbus Blue Jackets, the San Jose Sharks and the Winnipeg Jets have three active franchise assists leaders on their roster.
• Washington is the oldest franchise among this list and has the highest combined assist total among their three active players.

By Jon Sorensen
Follow @nova_caps

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