TJ Oshie moves to center with Lars Eller out



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The Washington Capitals beat the New York Islanders 3-2 on Tuesday despite losing their first two crosses, Nicklas Backstrom and Lars Eller, to injury during the game. Tom Wilson didn’t play either.

On Thursday, Backstrom and Wilson both returned, but Eller was unable to join the rest of his teammates on the ice for the morning skate, necessitating new lines.

The biggest story is that TJ Oshie will replace Eller and center Conor Sheary and Richard Panik on the second row.

The Capitals’ full injured list includes Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Lars Eller, Brian Pinho, Dmitry Orlov, Michal Kempny, Henrik Lundqvist and Ilya Samsonov.

Eller is seen day to day with an upper body injury.

As for Oshie, the veteran has all the skills to play center. He’s a playmaker, he’s good defensively, and he’s decent on face-offs. Oshie has won the fifth most draws against the Capitals since 2014-15, winning 48.2% of his 1,122 attempts. . Since 2019-2020, its percentage has increased to almost 50%.

Oshie will also be the focus of the Capitals’ first power play unit.

Vitek Vanecek will also win his sixth start of the young season.



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