Pierre-Luc Dubois on IR as illness hits Capitals

This started as one sick center. By Wednesday night against Montreal it was a lineup problem, with Matt Roy hurt as well and Washington coming off 2 straight losses.

Dubois didn't skate that morning and was still called day-to-day. With him and Roy both out, Spencer Carbery shuffled the deck. He split up Tuch and Wilson to spread the depth, split up the Protas brothers, and put Ivan Miroshnichenko in for his season debut on a line with Ovechkin and Ilya Protas.

It worked right away. Miroshnichenko scored on the power play, and then he went looking for contact. His open-ice hit on Juraj Slafkovsky started a full scrum. Montreal took it personally. A 5-minute major on Tom Wilson was waved off once the officials decided he hadn't targeted the head, and Washington ended up on a 5-on-4.

Spittin' Chiclets

@spittinchiclets

Miroshnichenko absolutely LEVELS Slafkovsky in open ice and the Habs weren’t gonna let it go unnoticed. 🤜💥

The Caps won it 5-4 in a game that went back and forth all night. Justin Holl broke the late tie on a point shot through traffic, and Alex Tuch added insurance a few minutes later, his 2nd goal of the night. It was a gritty win with a center short, and it snapped the skid.

Friday's practice brought one piece of good news and one piece of bad news. The good news: Roy was on the ice in a regular jersey, though Carbery listed him as questionable for Saturday. The bad news: Sourdif had caught whatever Dubois has and missed practice too. That pushed Jakub Jenner up to center the Wilson line.

Dubois was starting to feel better, but Carbery said the next step was just getting him back in the building, and the target was sometime this coming week. With Sourdif's status uncertain for a 1 pm Saturday game, a call-up was already on the table.

That call-up came Saturday morning. Washington recalled Brodzinski from AHL Hershey, where he had 2 goals and 3 assists in 4 games this season, and moved Dubois to IR to open the roster spot. Since the IR placement is retroactive, it's basically a paperwork move. Dubois can be activated for the next game if he's ready, so this isn't a long-term injury.

So Saturday against the Devils, Logan Thompson starts in goal and Brodzinski makes his season debut. Dubois, Sourdif and Roy all sit, which makes it 4 straight missed games for Dubois. There is real progress, though: Dubois was back at MedStar Capitals Iceplex Saturday morning and was scheduled to skate on his own. Watch practice this week. If he's back in a regular jersey and the illness has stopped spreading, the Caps finally get their lineup back.