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Nicklas Backstrom Skates In Regular Jersey, Sonny Milano Returns: Notes From Capitals Saturday Morning Skate

Jon Sorensen


The Washington Capitals returned to MedStar Capitals Iceplex Saturday morning for final preparations in advance of their tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs. The two teams do battle tonight at Capital One Arena with puck-drop set for 7PM.

Center Nicklas Backstrom skated in a regular (contact) jersey this morning, indicating he is ready for full contact. Lines and pairs at morning skate courtesy of Tom Gulitti/NHL.com:

Alex Ovechkin — Dylan Strome — Conor Sheary
Sonny Milano — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Anthony Mantha
Marcus Johansson — Lars Eller — T.J. Oshie
Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson — John Carlson
Dmitry Orlov — Nick Jensen
Matt Irwin — Trevor Van Riemsdyk

Charlie Lindgren
Hunter Shepard
Darcy Kuemper

Extras: Nicklas Backstrom, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, Lucas Johansen, Joe Snively, Beck Malenstyn.

Charlie Lindgren was in the starters net, indicating he is likely to get the start tonight against the Maple Leafs.

Capitals PP1: Carlson, Ovechkin, Oshie, Kuznetsov, Strome; PP2: Gustafsson, Orlov-Sheary-Johansson-Milano

Sonny Milano, who missed the game on Thursday with a non-COVID illness, was on the ice for the Capitals’ morning skate. Beck Malenstyn (finger) also skated in a regular jersey. Tom Wilson skated in a non-contact jersey.

Laviolette on Backstrom: “It’s another step. When you remove that blue jersey you’re allowed to be battled and hit, and compete in drills. …But I want to be clear, too: we’re not thinking about Nick Backstrom tonight. He has a lot of work to do.”

MAPLE LEAFS

The Washington Capitals tangle with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night for the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Toronto has taken four straight and five of the last seven against Washington dating back to the start of the 2018-19 season, including a 3-2 win at Scotiabank Arena on October 13.

Former Capitals netminder Ilya Samsonov will be in goal tonight for the Maple Leafs. “Everyone knows he’s a nice player and great sniper. I wish him the best in pursuing Gretzky’s record. But not against Toronto,” said Samsonov of friend Alex Ovechkin. [More here.]

Action from Capital One Arena can be seen on NBC Sports Washington locally or NHL Network nationally starting at 7 PM ET. [Full preview here]

STAT OF THE DAY – INJURIES

Today’s stat of the day comes from “Man-Games Lost” on Twitter. The following graphic plots the total man-games lost and total team wins for each team.

NHL top 5 teams, man-games lost to injury and health protocols: WSH 227, TOR 224, PHI 214, MTL 187 and CBJ 166.

DOWN ON THE FARM

Hershey Bears Kale Kessy knows no limits when it comes time to defending his team, and that includes going into the opposing team’s bench to take care of business, as he did last night in Wilkes-Barre.

Washington Capitals forward prospect Alexander Suzdalev continues to heat-up in the WHL. The 18-year-old forward now has 20 goals on the season, including two more tallies on Friday night.

Suzdalev recorded his 19th goal of the season late in the first period of Friday night’s tilt with the Moose Jaw Warriors.

Suzdalev scored his 20th goal of the season late in the second period.

Suzdalev has been thriving in the absence of phenom Connor Bedard. He now has four goals and four assists in the last five games since Bedard left for Team Canada’s World Juniors training camp on December 4.

Suzdalev now has 20 goals (5th in WHL) and 23 assists  for 43 points (7th in the WHL) in 31 games played so far for the Pats. He has points in 18 of the last 19 games and 34 points in the last 19 games played.

Suzdalev has shot the puck 68 times this season for an impressive 29.41% shooting percentage, which is second-best in the WHL. He also has 11 power play goals which is third-best in the WHL.

By Jon Sorensen

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