The Washington Capitals held their gameday morning skate at 11:30 this morning at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, Florida. They face the Panthers in Game 2 tonight with the series then moving to Washington for Games 3 and 4 on Saturday afternoon and Monday night.
Forward Tom Wilson did not participate in the Capitals morning skate on Thursday. Wilson sustained a lower body injury in the first period of Game 1 and did not return. He is currently listed as a game-time decision.
No Tom Wilson (lower body) at the Capitals’ morning skate before Game 2 vs, the Panthers.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) May 5, 2022
Brett Leason, who was officially recalled by the Capitals Thursday morning, was inserted on the right side of the fourth line, with Garnet Hathaway and T.J. Oshie moving up a line on the right side for morning line rushes.
Capitals at their morning skate:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Johansson-Backstrom-Oshie
Mantha-Eller-Hathaway
Larsson-Dowd-LeasonFehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-SchultzHathaway moving up to third line. Leason on fourth line.
Would be his NHL playoff debut
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) May 5, 2022
Vitek Vanecek was in the starter’s net again and is likely to get the Game 2 start in goal for the Capitals.
John Carlson, who left late in Game 1 after a hit from Panthers Sam Bennett, skated in his usual position and is ready to go for Game 2.
Capitals power play units at morning skate:
PP1: Carlson, Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Kuznetsov.
PP2: Orlov, Schultz, Sheary (bumper), Mantha, Johansson.
Extras: McMichael, Jonsson-Fjallby, Kempny, Irwin.
From The Other Side
It doesn’t sound like there are many changes to the Panthers lineup for tonight. Acciari skated on the left wing alongside fourth-line forwards Luostarinen and Hornqvist. Lomberg was bumped to the “scratch” line with Thornton and Mamin.
#FlaPanthers with a few changes this AM:
Verhaeghe – Barkov – Duclair
Huberdeau – Bennett – Reinhart
Marchment – Lundell – Giroux
Acciari – Luostarinen – HornqvistWeegar – Ekblad
Forsling – Gudas
Chiarot – MontourBobrovsky
Knight— Jameson Olive (@JamesonCoop) May 5, 2022
The Capitals face the Florida Panthers tonight in Game 2 of the First Round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Capitals are 25-25 in Game 2s in franchise history, 13-16 when leading in the series and 9-10 in Game 2s played on the road.
V+V =W
Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 of the 32 shots he faced in Game 1, marking his first career playoff win. Vanecek became the 16th goaltender in franchise history to record a playoff win and the seventh originally selected by the Capitals in the NHL Draft (Braden Holtby, Olie Kolzig, Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth, Jim Carey and Philipp Grubauer).
Vanecek recorded a 2.10 goals-against average and a .926 save percentage at five-on-five during the regular season, which ranked tied for sixth and tied for seventh, respectively, among goaltenders with at least 1,500 minutes played at five-on-five. Additionally, Vanecek ranked tied for sixth in the NHL in shutouts (4) and posted a 20-12-6 record in 39 starts.
Scenes From Sunrise
Goin’ for two#ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/Qx3z1uyaUu
— x – Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 5, 2022
On This Date
1️⃣ year ago today 🤜 🥴 🤛🏒🥅 #ALLCAPS  #NHL #HockeyTwitter #NHLonESPN #NHLonSN #CapsHypeMan #Caps1974 #CapsBarTalk #NHLonTNT  pic.twitter.com/OWIN3DmKVl
— Caps1974™ (Caps Hype Man™) 🏒🥅🍻 (@caps_community) May 5, 2022