Ovechkin On Kuznetsov, Capitals' Trade Deadline With the trade deadline passing, the Washington Capitals will return to game action and continue to push for the playoffs against the Chicago Blackhawks. Here's everything to know before puck drop at Capital One Arena at 7 p.m. Both teams are just a point apart in the standings and D.C. is five points out of playoff position. WASHINGTON CAPITALS LINE COMBINATIONS The Capitals will keep the same combination as they did on Thursday, as Nic Dowd, Martin Fehervary and T.J. Oshie continue on their respective roads to recovery. Ivan Miroshnichenko and Ethan Bear will also stay in the lineup with the team not bringing in others to replace Anthony Mantha and Joel Edmundson, who were traded out. Charlie Lindgren will get the start, with Darcy Kuemper returning from illness to back up. Hunter Shepard has been returned to Hershey. That said, here are the line combinations: Alex Ovechkin-Hendrix Lapierre-Aliaksei Protas Max Pacioretty-Connor McMichael-Tom Wilson Ivan Miroshnichenko-Dylan Strome-Sonny Milano Beck Malenstyn-Mike Sgarbossa-Nicolas Aube-Kubel Trevor van Riemsdyk-John Carlson Rasmus Sandin-Nick Jensen Alex Alexeyev-Ethan Bear WASHINGTON CAPITALS INJURY REPORT - T.J. Oshie joined the team for morning skate and is still recovering from an upper-body injury that he suffered back on Feb. 22 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. He will travel on the upcoming road trip. - Nic Dowd upgraded to contact at Saturday's morning skate but will not play and remains out as he recovers from an upper-body injury he suffered back on Feb. 20 against the New Jersey Devils. He will make the upcoming road trip, too. - Martin Fehervary also upgraded to contact but is still out with a lower-body injury he suffered back on Feb. 17 against the Montreal Canadiens. Fehervary will also make the trip. - Nicklas Backstrom remains on indefinite leave due to his hip not responding as he'd hoped following hip resurfacing surgery. WASHINGTON CAPITALS STORYLINES - Alex Ovechkin has points in four straight outings and 14 of the last 16 games overall, along with 10 goals in the last 15 games. - Sonny Milano has goals in four straight games and points in six of the last seven games since returning from an upper-body injury that held him out for over two months. - Dylan Strome had three assists last game and has points in seven of the last eight games. - Max Pacioretty has points in four of the last six games. - Ivan Miroshnichenko scored his first NHL goal back on Thursday. - The Capitals have power-play goals in nine of the last 10 and eight PPGs in the last five outings. HOW TO WATCH CAPITALS VS. BLACKHAWKS The game will be live on Monumental Sports Network [https://www.monumentalsportsnetwork.com/live-schedule]. Fans can also tune in on Caps Radio 24/7 [https://www.nhl.com/capitals/multimedia/caps-radio-247] and 106.7 FM The Fan [https://www.audacy.com/stations/thefandc].
