The Washington Capitals held an optional morning skate this morning in advance of their season finale against the Boston Bruins tonight at Capital One Arena. Nicklas Backstrom will play tonight and Alex Ovechkin will be a game time decision, while John Carlson and T.J. Oshie will not play tonight.
Laviolette: Nicklas Backstrom will play tonight. John Carlson and T.J. Oshie are out tonight. #ALLCAPS
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) May 11, 2021
Alex Ovechkin participated in the team’s morning skate and will be a game time decision.
Laviolette: Alex Ovechkin will be a game time decision tonight. #ALLCAPS
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) May 11, 2021
Vitek Vanecek did not participate in morning skate, but will get the start tonight against the Bruins.
Laviolette: Vitek Vanecek will start in goal tonight. #ALLCAPS
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) May 11, 2021
Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov did not participate in the morning skate. Kuznetsov has been on the league’s COVID-19-related absences list since Tuesday of last week. Less is know about the actual status of Samsonov, but he is not on the COVID-19-related absences list.
The Capitals recalled forward Philippe Maillet from the taxi squad and assigned forward Garrett Pilon to the taxi squad.
Here are the Bruins not playing tonight:
Here’s the full list of Bruins regulars not playing today, per Cassidy:
Bergeron
Marchand
Pastrnak
Krejci
Hall
Smith
Kuraly
Coyle
Kase
Rask
McAvoy
Grzelcyk
Reilly
Carlo
Lauzon
Miller@conroyherald: “Quite the list.”Cassidy: “You asked.”
— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 11, 2021
With the Boston Bruins clinching the third seed in the MassMutual East Division last night, the Washington Capitals will face the Bruins in the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs, marking the fourth time the two franchises will meet in the playoffs (1990 Conference Final, 1998 Conference Quarterfinal, 2012 Conference Quarterfinal). Washington has an all-time series record of 2-1 against Boston and a 9-9 record in playoff games.
During the most recent matchup in 2012, the Capitals won the series with a Game 7 overtime goal scored by Joel Ward, which, at the time, marked the second Game 7-winning goal scored in overtime in franchise history. It marked the first postseason series in NHL history to have all seven games decided by one goal.
By Jon Sorensen
Follow @nova_caps
#FreeKuznetsov
Salary cap. I would not play any of our vets but, of course, we have already played shorthanded more than once recently because of salary cap issues, so we don’t have the freedom to pull players up and the darn NHL requires us to dress 16 skaters.