78:35 – The total amount of ice time (on average) usually taken up each game by Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Dmitry Orlov and Tom Wilson, all of whom have been out of the Caps’ lineup for the past two games.
That’s a significant chunk of ice time – and while the Caps have plugged in members of the taxi squad to fill out the lineup, those minutes have largely been redistributed to the team’s veterans. The result? A significant uptick in ice time for guys like John Carlson (who goes from an already hefty lift of over 24 minutes a night to over 27), an opportunity to step up for someone like Jakub Vrana (who jumps from just over 13 minutes a night to 18), and a reward for hard-working dudes like Garnet Hathaway (up to almost 15 minutes a night) and Nic Dowd (17 minutes a night).
Here’s the full look at how the ice time shakes out for all skaters, before and after 1/20: