The Washington Capitals held an optional game-day morning skate Wednesday morning in advance of their tilt with the Nashville Predators Wednesday night at Capital One Arena.
Activations
The Capitals announced Wednesday afternoon that Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie were activated from the COVID-19 protocols list. Tom Wilson was also activated from injured reserve.
#Caps activate Nicklas Backstrom (COVID protocol), Evgeny Kuznetsov (COVID protocol), TJ Oshie (COVID protocol) and Tom Wilson (IR). In addition, #Caps recall Alex Alexeyev and Brett Leason from the taxi squad and assign Michael Sgarbossa to the taxi squad.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) December 29, 2021
It looks like defenseman Alex Alexeyev will make his career NHL start tonight against the Nashville Predators. Ilya Samsonov will start for Washington tonight against Nashville
Smashville
The Capitals return to action tonight for the first time since Dec. 19 to face the Nashville Predators at Capital One Arena. This marks Washington’s first game against Nashville since Jan. 29, 2020.
Excited to get back at it!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/OTSINhfrgo
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) December 29, 2021
The Capitals are playing their first game in 10 days. Coach Laviolette told 106.7 The Fan this morning that he spoke with the team about getting back up to speed, quickly. He said the team even held training camp-like drills on Tuesday.
#Preds at #ALLCAPS Laviolette told @junksradio this morning that he spoke with team about getting back up to speed, quickly.“There’s definitely teams, somewhere in the top 15-16 teams in the league, that won’t come out of it as well as they were when they went into this break.” pic.twitter.com/zogoGC7d1b
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 29, 2021
Only six Capitals have played in each of the team’s first 31 games this season. That number will drop to four tonight as both Martin Fehervary and Nick Jensen will miss tonight’s game for the first time this season.
Laviolette
With his next win, head coach Peter Laviolette will pass Dick Irvin for the 10th most wins in NHL history. If the Capitals win tonight against the Predators, Laviolette will accomplish this feat in 150-fewer games coached than Irvin.
#Preds at #ALLCAPS pregame stats: After a 10-day break the #Capitals will get a good test right off the bat. Nashville has been (quietly) the league’s best team since Thanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/qCVZOKwUJF
— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) December 29, 2021
Since Laviolette joined the Capitals at the start of the 2020-21 season, Washington is 54-21-12, good for a .690 points percentage.
In his first season with Washington, Laviolette set a franchise record with a .688 points percentage (36-15-5), the highest points percentage by a first-year head coach in franchise history. Additionally, with a win in the season opener on Oct. 13 against the New York Rangers, Laviolette passed John Tortorella (673 wins) for the most wins by an American head coach in NHL history.
Additionally, Laviolette ranks third among active head coaches in wins (Barry Trotz: 885 wins; Lindy Ruff: 765 wins).
Update COVID-19 Protocols
The NHL announced on Wednesday that it has shortened its quarantine mandate for players that test positive for COVID-19 so that they have to do so for just five compared to 10 before if local authorities give teams permission to shorten players’ quarantine periods.
You can see the agreement between the league and NHLPA below:
