Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette generally is not very forthright about player availability and health, and that did not change Wednesday.
Washington is set to face the Bruins in Boston for Game 3 of the teams’ tied first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series. The status of a bunch of Capitals players is up in the air, and only a little clarity was gained after morning skate.
As The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell pointed out, Lars Eller, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Ilya Samsonov all skated Wednesday morning. T.J. Oshie and Vitek Vanecek did not.
When asked about their status, Laviolette said over Zoom that — regarding Eller, Kuznetsov, Samsonov and Oshie — the Capitals were “working their way” through some lineup decisions, but that all potentially were in the mix.
In the case of Kuznetsov, Laviolette said it no longer is a COVID-19 issue, but rather a question of whether he’s in good enough condition to play after a few weeks away. Presumably, Samsonov is in a similar situation, and he’d be hard-pressed to replace Craig Anderson right now since Anderson has fared well in net.
Oshie clearly has not been healthy the entire series, but he has been gutting things out. Eller got hurt in Game 2.
The Bruins, meanwhile, mostly are at full health. The only Boston player out Wednesday will be defenseman Jeremy Lauzon, but he is not the nightly roster lock that Kuznetsov, Eller and Oshie are.
Puck drop for Bruins-Capitals Game 3 is set for 6:30 p.m. ET on NESN, with pregame coverage beginning at 5:30 p.m.
