The Washington Capitals (29-23-7) officially returned to action after three weeks out. They are set to host the rival Philadelphia Flyers (25-20-11) on Wednesday night at Capital One Arena.
The puck drops at 7:00 pm ET.
The NHL is off for three weeks due to the Winter Olympics. Many players from the league represented their respective countries in the men's hockey tournament.
Tom Wilson and Logan Thompson represented Team Canada and left Italy with a silver medal. Meanwhile, Martin Fehrváry played for Team Slovakia and finished fourth in the tournament.
With 65 points, the Capitals are tied with Columbus for ninth place in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the Metro Division. Washington is also four points behind Boston in the East and the Islanders in the Metro.
The Capitals have a total of 23 games remaining – the fewest in the entire league. Starting Wednesday, the team will begin a set of three games over four nights.
The Capitals entered the Olympic break as the only team in the league to have played 59 games. Washington also played 22 games between the NHL's holiday break and Olympic break, the most in the league.
The last game the Capitals played before the Olympic break was a much-needed home win against Nashville on February 5. Pierre-Luc Dubois returned to the lineup after being absent for three months due to abdominal surgery.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia started the season strong, but slowed down at the break with three wins in 15 games. One of those wins came on February 3 against the Capitals in Philly.
The Capitals and Flyers are scheduled to meet twice later this season, on March 11 in Philadelphia and on March 31 in Washington.
Expected Capitals Rows
Ahead
Aliaksei Protas - Dylan Strome - Alex Ovechkin
Connor McMichael - Pierre-Luc Dubois - Tom Wilson
Anthony Beauvillier - Justin Sourdiff - Ryan Leonard
Brandon Duhaime - Nick Dowd - Ethan Frank
defenseman
Martin Fehrvary - John Carlson
Jacob Chykrun - Matt Roy
Declan Chisholm - Rasmus Sandin
goalkeeper
logan thompson
charlie lindgren
expected flyers lines
Ahead
Trevor Zegras - Christian Dvorak - Travis Konecny
Matvei Michkov - Noah Cates - Bobby Brink
Denver Barkley - Shawn Couturier - Owen Tippett
Nikita Grebenkin - Carl Grundstrom - Garnet Hathaway
defenseman
Travis Sanheim - Rasmus Ristolainen
Cam York - Jamie Drysdale
Nick Seiler - Noah Julson
goalkeeper
and vlader
samuel irson
how to see
TV: Monumental Sports Network
Radio: 106.7 Fan/Caps Radio Network
