Capitals Game Notes: Tom Wilson Set To Return To Lineup vs. Canucks
The Capitals visit Vancouver at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The Washington Capitals will get a major boost to their lineup on Wednesday against the Vancouver Canucks, as Tom Wilson is set to make his return from a lower-body injury that’s held him out for the last eight games.
Wilson, who has been out since Jan. 3 when he collided with Connor Murphy and fell back on his leg, has been activated from the injured reserve, and Ivan Miroshnichenko has been loaned back to Hershey to open up a roster spot for him.
The 31-year-old said that he’s looking forward to rejoining the mix and doing what he can to help the team overcome recent woes, including a current three-game losing streak preceded by traded-off wins and losses.
“Feels like it’s been forever. Really hard to watch, especially at this time of year the games are getting super important. At the end of the day you just wanna be out there helping the team,” Wilson said. “Whether I’m back, whether I can play a full 20 minutes or whatever, I just want to (get back to) being on that bench and helping the team out any way I can and getting back in there. At the end of the day, it just sucks watching, so it’ll be fun to get back out there when I do.”
Coach Spencer Carbery said that getting Wilson back will not only spark the offense — his 22 goals and 42 points lead Washington — but also restore some of the competitiveness that the team has been trying to maintain over the course of games.
“We can go on for a while about what Tom Wilson brings, but maybe the most impactful thing on the ice (he brings) is just his intensity and competitive fire,” coach Spencer Carbery said. “Not that we don’t have any of that without him. He just brings such a large amount of that to our group.”
Washington had made some significant changes to the forward lines last game, most notably moving Alex Ovechkin to skate with Nic Dowd and Ethen Frank, a combination that Carbery told reporters in Colorado he thought was effective.
Puck drop is at 10 p.m. ET at Rogers Arena.