The Washington Capitals are down a 3-2 draw with the Florida Panthers and will play Friday night’s game six in their first eliminator of the playoffs.
RMNB found out exclusively behind the scenes Tom Wilson Ice skating Thursday afternoon just after the Capitals’ team plane landed back in DC. The skate was believed to be Wilson’s first since he sustained a lower body injury early in the first game. The Capitals said it was part of Wilson’s rehab.
Wilson was back on the ice Friday but didn’t join his teammates.
NBC Sports Washington’s Andrew Gillis reported that Wilson did some skating practice and left the ice just before the team headed out to the rink for their morning skate session.
#caps Forward Tom Wilson was on the ice at MedStar this morning before practice and did some skating drills. He left the ice a while ago. Game 6 is home tonight.
The Capitals practice as a team at 10:30 and we should get a better idea of his status then.
—Andrew Gillis (@Andrew_Gillis70) May 13, 2022
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette later declared Wilson for the sixth game by Tarik El-Bashir of The Athletic.
“It’s nice to see him out there,” Laviolette called.
Without Wilson, the Capitals will keep the same lines, including Connor McMichael in the lineup and Conor Sheary skating on the first line.
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Johansson Backstrom Oshie
McMichael-Eller-Mantha
Larsson-Dowd-Hathaway
Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR Schultz
Ilya Samsonov starts his fourth game in a row and makes her fifth consecutive appearance in the series.
The Capitals will be looking to win their first game since game three. After leading in games four and five, the Capitals collapsed at the end of those games. The Capitals must win the next two to advance to the second round.