The Capitals will welcome back winger Sonny Milano to the lineup tonight against Boston, notes Sammi Silber of The Hockey News. He had missed the last two games due to an upper-body injury sustained back on Sunday. The 27-year-old has reached the double-digit goal mark for the third straight year as he has 13 in just 39 games, buoyed by a 31.7 shooting percentage that is nearly double his career average. Washington has clawed its way back into a playoff spot in recent weeks and are holding down the final Wild Card spot although they are just one point behind Philadelphia for the final spot in the Metropolitan Division.
Other injury news from around the NHL:
- The Senators won’t have Thomas Chabot in the lineup tonight for the second straight game with a lower-body injury but he shouldn’t be out much longer. TSN’s John Lu relays (Twitter link) that the blueliner is expected to return next week, either on Tuesday or Thursday. The 27-year-old has had an injury-riddled season, being limited to just 44 games so far. He has done well in those, however, collecting 28 points while logging 23:31 per night.
- Blue Jackets winger Alexander Nylander is expected to return to the lineup against his former team, reports Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (Twitter link). The 26-year-old had missed the last two games after taking an elbow to the head. Columbus picked Nylander up in a change-of-scenery swap that sent Emil Bemstrom to Pittsburgh last month and it’s safe to say the deal has worked out well for Nylander and the Blue Jackets as he has eight goals and three assists through 15 games with his new team.
- Flames winger Andrew Mangiapane won’t play tonight and is likely to miss Tuesday’s contest as well, mentions Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 27-year-old is dealing with an undisclosed injury that also kept him out of the lineup on Thursday. He remains listed as day-to-day. Two years removed from a 35-goal season, Mangiapane has managed just 30 since then, only 13 of which have come in 69 games so far in 2023-24.