Capitals Notebook: 17 Skate At Optional, Carlson, Sheary, Oshie Updates

ARLINGTON, V.A. — The Washington Capitals will still be a bit shorthanded when they take on the Boston Bruins on Thursday, but there are a number of positives the team is keeping in mind as they look to avenge a 7-3 loss to the B’s just over a week ago.

Head coach Peter Laviolette said on Wednesday that John Carlson and Conor Sheary will not travel to Boston. Both remain on COVID-19 protocol, and if they are asymptomatic, almost at the five-day mark required for isolation before returning.

Washington held an optional skate on Wednesday, and before things got started, T.J. Oshie hit the ice to get some work in.

No. 77 was on the ice for some individual work before practice and skated for a bit before heading to the dressing room. He didn’t take part in the team skate. But as Laviolette said, it was a major “positive” to see him out on the ice for a bit. Oshie remains day-to-day with an upper-body injury he suffered on Saturday against the New York Islanders.

READ MORE ON WHN: Orlov To Have Hearing With NHL DoPS For Knee On Ehlers

There were 17 total skaters on the ice for the Capitals’ optional skate: Dennis Cholowski, Lars Eller, Martin Fehervary, Michal Kempny, Aliaksei Protas, Dmitry Orlov, Connor McMichael, Daniel Sprong, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, Brett Leason, Matt Irwin, Mike Sgarbossa, Carl Hagelin, Ilya Samsonov, Vitek Vanecek and Hunter Shepard.

Jonsson-Fjallby came up from Hershey to the taxi squad on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Orlov, who also skated, will have a hearing with the NHL Department of Player Safety for his knee on Nikolaj Ehlers on Tuesday. McMichael and Sprong also hit the ice for the optional skate. Both got little ice time on Tuesday against Winnipeg. Washington ended up capturing their first overtime win of the season, 4-3.