Capitals Tweak Top 6, Latest On Fehervary, Oshie & Wilson

ARLINGTON, V.A. — After a rough game on Thursday ended in a 4-3 overtime loss, the Washington Capitals got right back to work with a busy practice on Friday with no morning skate scheduled for Saturday prior to the afternoon tilt with the Montreal Canadiens.

The practice kicked off with line rushes, where Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dylan Strome switched places as Kuznetsov went to operate with Alex Ovechkin and Conor Sheary while Strome worked with Sonny Milano and Anthony Mantha. The bottom-6 stayed the same. Meanwhile, T.J. Oshie and Tom Wilson were skating on an extra line with Joe Snively.

Head coach Peter Laviolette said he does not expect Oshie or Wilson to play against the Canadiens. Oshie and Wilson are in full contact jerseys and are still recovering from respective injuries (Oshie, upper-body; Wilson, ACL surgery).

Meanwhile, on the blue line, Martin Fehervary took part in rushes, skating on the third pairing with Matt Irwin. Laviolette said it was good for him to get reps in, but he would not say if Fehervary would return or not. He has been out since Dec. 3 with an upper-body injury.

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Washington will not hold a morning skate prior to the New Year's Eve afternoon matchup with the Canadiens, so these lines will likely hold true.

Here were the full combinations:

Alex Ovechkin-Evgeny Kuznetsov-Conor Sheary

Marcus Johansson-Dylan Strome-Anthony Mantha

Sonny Milano-Lars Eller-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Aliaksei Protas-Nic Dowd-Garnet Hathaway

Erik Gustafsson-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Dmitry Orlov-Nick Jensen

Martin Fehervary-Matt Irwin

Drills involved puck control and possession, as well as passes up ice from the blue line and second-chance shots. Nicklas Backstrom remains in COVID-19 protocol and did not skate. Carl Hagelin skated again in a non-contact jersey before practice.