The Washington Capitals returned to MedStar Capitals Iceplex Monday morning for their final workout in advance of their tilt with the Vegas Golden Knights tonight at Capital One Arena. Puck drop tonight is set for just after 7:00 PM.
Nick Jensen (upper-body injury) and T.J. Oshie (injured reserve) did not participate in today’d morning skate. Oshie was eligible to return today. John Carlson (COVID protocol) and Dmitry Orlov (suspension) returned to practice this morning. The lines at morning skate:

Capitals lines at morning skate:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Sheary
McMichael-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Protas-Eller-Leason
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Schultz
Kempny-TvR

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 24, 2022

Vitek Vanecek was the first goalie off the ice this morning and it appears he will get the start tonight against Vegas. It would be his fourth straight start.

Capitals PP1: Carlson, Ovechkin, Wilson, Backstrom, Kuznetsov.

PP2: Schultz (pt), McMichael (left circle), Eller (bumper), Orlov (half wall), Sheary (goal line).

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) January 24, 2022

The Capitals announced after morning skate that defenseman Nick Jensen is now listed “week-to-week” and forward T.J. Oshie is listed “day-to-day”.

Vegas, Baby

The Washington Capitals will see the Vegas Golden Knights on Monday night for the first time in about two years in the nation’s capital. The Capitals and Golden Knights have split each of their past two regular-season series with the home team coming out on top each time, including 5-2 victories by the Capitals each time in Washington.

After three days off since their 4-3 overtime win against the Montreal Canadiens at home, the Golden Knights begin a four-game Eastern Conference road swing (Washington, Raleigh, Sunrise, and Tampa) and a set of back-to-backs with the Carolina Hurricanes awaiting them on Tuesday.

The Capitals continue a three-game homestand after coming back from down 2-0 in the third period in a 3-2 overtime win over the Ottawa Senators on Saturday. They will face a Western Conference opponent in three straight games and close their homestand out against the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday.

You can check out our full game preview here.

Slick Nick

Nicklas Backstrom enters tonight’s game after scoring the overtime-winning goal Saturday night against the Ottawa Senators, marking his second straight game with a goal and his first multi-point game of the season (1g, 1a). That marked Backstrom’s ninth career overtime goal, the second-most in franchise history (Alex Ovechkin: 24).

BACKSTROM IN OVERTIME! Nicklas Backstrom with the backhander beauty in tight to win it for the Capitals! What a defensive effort from Backstrom!#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/jjkeuyM6A8

— Hockey Daily 365 (@HockeyDaily365) January 23, 2022

Since returning from injury, Backstrom has recorded a point in seven of his nine games this season (2g, 6a). Backstrom is currently 12 points shy of becoming the second player in franchise history to record 1,000 career points (260g, 728a), joining Alex Ovechkin (1,378 points).

With a goal and an assist on Saturday, Backstrom drew within five assists of passing Rod Brind’Amour (732) for the 48th most assists in NHL history and five goals shy of passing Nicklas Lidstrom, Thomas Steen and Kent Nilsson (264) for eighth on the all-time goals list among Swedish players.