Washington Capitals are fully healthy

The Washington Capitals will finally take the ice on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh and for the first time since the first week of the season, ironically at the same location, it could be the first time they are at full strength.

On Thursday the team practiced with a full roster for the first time in three weeks. That full squad continued to practice Saturday with no issues. A team desperate to snap a three game skid, this comes at the right time.

Here were the lines during Saturday’s practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex via Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic:

Forwards
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Wilson
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Panik-Eller-Sheary
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway
Sprong

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Defense
Dillon-Carlson
Chara-Schultz
Orlov-Jensen
Siegenthaler-TvR

Samsonov
Vanecek

The Caps had to deal with a lot in this young season. First Alex Ovechkin, Dmitry Orlov, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Ilya Samsonov were placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 list with Samsonov testing positive for the virus. Then it seemed like players started dropping like flies as they dealt with several injuries to key guys.

First Tom Wilson, then Lars Eller, then Justin Schultz. Other players that caught the injury bug included Conor Sheary and T.J. Oshie. During a contest against the New York Rangers the team had to even go with 11 forwards and seven defensemen since they lacked the salary to call up another forward.

The Caps needed to call up guys from the taxi squad as well as their AHL affiliate the Hershey Bears. The taxi squad guys on Saturday included Daniel Carr, Brian Pinho, Philippe Maillet (who made his debut earlier this week), Craig Anderson, Zach Fucale and Pheonix Copley. Copley was called from the Hershey Bears to the taxi squad this morning.

Coach Peter Laviolette hopes to have every player available for Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins. There is a possibility that Samsonov could go to Hershey to get a game in up there since he hasn’t seen action in three weeks. Laviolette told the media after practice that he is thinking things through and will have an announcement at a later time.

The lines you saw above are likely the lineup he goes with against the Penguins. For Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was out just as long as Samsonov, he went 21 days without working out. Honestly, doing the opposite just might help him breakout. We need that Kuzy back that Caps fans know and love.

Puck drop for Sunday’s game is at 3 p.m.