Tom Wilson and Nic Dowd absent at Capitals practice

The Washington Capitals were hard at work this morning gearing up for tomorrow's big game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Here are the lines from practice via Tarik El-Bashir of Monumental:

Remember Nic Dowd was hurt with an upper body injury and is day to day. What fans are speculating right now is whether or not the Capitals will deal Dowd with the trade deadline just eight days away. Lots of moving parts across the league right now. We got Michael Sgarbossa centering the fourth line.

Ivan Miroshnichenko is on the top line right wing in Tom Wilson's place. I remember hearing about Wilson becoming a dad so maybe the baby was due early? Just speculation.

On defense Trevor van Riemsdyk is rotating on the right side of the third pair with Ethan Bear. Obvisouly the one more likely to go would be TvR who the Caps could maybe get a good return with a versatile blue liner. Charlie Lindgren was in the starter's net but not sure who gets the nod tomorrow night.

But we cannot stress enough about how big Friday night's game is. It's not only to keep the wild card hopes alive but it's another chance to climb a tight Metropolitan Division standings. The Caps are now six back of the Flyers but could cut it to four with two points tomorrow night. So they need the regulation win as badly as ever. Flyers occupy third in the Metro. Top 3 teams from each division get in.

The Caps are also now six points behind the Lightning in the wild card as the Red Wings got hot with their big win over the Caps the other night. Detroit has won six in a row. Bailey Johnson of The Washington Post added this...

You can catch Caps vs. Flyers tomorrow night at 7 p.m. on Monumental Sports Network and NHL Network.