Left-wing Anthony Mantha will miss the Washington Capitals’ Super Bowl Sunday matinee vs. the San Jose Sharks (1:30 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington in-market, ESPN+ out-of-market) due to illness.
The team did not mention COVID-19 in their announcement.
Center Aliaksei Protas came in for the 28-year-old in Washington’s only lineup change from their 2-1 win over the NHL-leading Boston Bruins on Saturday afternoon.
#Caps lines/pairs/starter vs. SJS:
Ovechkin-Strome-NAK
Milano-Backstrom-Johansson
Sheary-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Protas-Eller-HathawayGustafsson-van Riemsdyk
Orlov-Jensen
Irwin-FehervaryLindgren
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 12, 2023
Mantha has nine goals and 24 points in 50 games this season and has been a healthy scratch four times since right-wing Tom Wilson returned from knee surgery on January 8.
Charlie Lindgren gets the start in goal.
By Harrison Brown
Not playing Alexeyev in the second game of a back to back, particularly when Irwin only skated 10 mins last night is making a huge statement.
He played last night. Hopefully this isn’t the first of a string…