The Washington Capitals returned to MedStar Capitals Iceplex Tuesday morning for their gameday morning skate. They will be back in action tonight when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets at Capital One Arena.

Team captain Alex Ovechkin passed his COVID test Monday night and returned to skate Tuesday morning. He looks to return tonight against the Blue Jackets.

Alex Ovechkin passed his PCR lab test result overnight and will be allowed to return to full activity today, per the Caps.

All WSH players/staff who had to get additional confirmatory testing for initial positives yesterday returned negative send-out PCR results overnight.

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) February 8, 2022

Forward lines and defensive at morning skate:

Capitals at morning skate:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Snively-Backstrom-Wilson
McMichael-Eller-Sprong
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz

Extras: Protas, Leason, Irwin, Cholowksi, Kempny.

Samsonov and Copley are the goalies

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) February 8, 2022

The Capitals power play units this morning at MedStar Capitals Iceplex:

At morning skate, Capitals changing up PP with Kuznetsov no longer on first unit. Eller replaces him on goal line.

Kuznetsov on second unit half wall.

PP1: Carlson, Ovechkin, Wilson, Backstrom, Eller.

PP2: Schultz, Sprong, Orlov (bumper), Kuznetsov, Sheary.

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) February 8, 2022

Vitek Vanecek remains out. He is listed on injured reserve. He has an upper-body injury from games on Feb. 2 against Edmonton.

Coach Laviolette announced that Pheonix Copley will get the start in goal tonight against the Blue Jackets.

The Capitals recalled goaltender Pheonix Copley from Hershey on Monday morning. Copley, 30, stopped 28 of 29 shots faced for the Bears against the Cleveland Monsters on Saturday night.

The Capitals currently have more (25) than the maximum 23 players on their roster, so a move or moves is anticipated.

Waiting For Columbus

The Capitals return to the regular season tomorrow night when they take on the Columbus Blue Jackets. This season, the Capitals hold a record of 8-2-1 against Metropolitan Division opponents, the highest points percentage (.773%) of any Metropolitan Division team.

Tom Wilson

Capitals All-Stars Evgeny Kuznetsov and Tom Wilson claimed the 2022 NHL All-Star Game title as the Metropolitan Division beat the Central Division 5-3 in the final. Tom Wilson scored 13 seconds into his first NHL All-Star Game, the fastest goal to start a game under the 3-on-3 format (besting the previous mark of 15 seconds set by Sidney Crosby in the 2019 semifinal).

Wilson was one of 11 first-time All-Stars to score Saturday, the most ever in one year – the previous high was 10, seen in 2020 and 2017. Wilson finished with a goal in two games, and he became the ninth player in franchise history to score a goal at the All-Star Game.

Evgeny Kuznetsov

Kuznetsov, who took part in his second career All-Star Game (also 2016) finished with a goal and an assist in his two games. Kuznetsov is now just the third player in franchise history to score multiple goals in multiple All-Star Games, joining Alex Ovechkin (7g) and Mike Gartner (2g).

Martin Fehervary

Caps rookie defenseman Martin Fehervary is scheduled to play in his 45^th game of the season tonight versus Columbus and is one of four rookie defensemen to appear in at least 40 games, joining Anaheim’s Jamie Drysdale (48 games), Detroit’s Moritz Seider (47 games) and Nashville’s Alexandre Carrier (43 games). Among rookie defensemen with 20 games played, Fehervary’s 19:28 average ice time per game ranks fifth. Additionally, among Capitals rookie defensemen in franchise history, Fehervary’s 19:28 TOI per game is the third-highest among rookies with at least 30 games played.

This season, Fehervary’s 119 hits rank first among all rookie defensemen and ninth in the NHL. Fehervary also ranks fourth among rookies with 63 blocked shots.