Per Mike Vogel, the Caps have some bruised and battered bodies in the locker room right now and a couple of statuses are up in the air ahead of tonight’s game. Nicklas Backstrom, who has been sick, will likely play; Mike Green aggravated an upper-body injury and is day-to-day and out of the lineup tonight. Nate Schmidt will make his return in his spot, while Brooks Orpik is a game-time decision with a lower-body injury and may or may not be replaced by recent call-up Cameron Schilling.
So where does that leave us? With some unknowns on the blue line, and the one constant in net as Braden Holtby gets the nod yet again:
Alex Ovechkin – Nicklas Backstrom – Marcus Johansson
Curtis Glencross – Jay Beagle – Troy Brouwer
Jason Chimera – Eric Fehr – Joel Ward
Brooks Laich – Evgeny Kuznetsov – Tom Wilson
Nate Schmidt – John Carlson
Cameron Schilling – Tim Gleason
That would leave Justin Peters backing up Holtby, Orpik, Latta and Green out with assorted ailments, and Dmitry Orlov and John Erskine still on the IR.