Washington Capitals bench boss Peter Laviolette reported Thursday afternoon that his captain Alex Ovechkin, Ilya Samsonov, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov are all in quarantine due to COVID-19 protocols. Laviolette told media he believes all four of his players miss the next four games, including games against the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night and Sunday afternoon.



Ovechkin's wife took to Russian Twitter on Thursday to defend her husband and his Russian teammates.

Alex Ovechkin’s wife, Nastya, posted this on Instagram just now. She says Ovechkin and Dmitry Orlov have covid-19 antibodies. pic.twitter.com/ZzxaisAFvW

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 21, 2021

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Buffalo Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark and his family have suffered a painful loss. Ullmark's father passed away Monday in Sweden. The grief surrounding the death of his father forced him to sit out Monday and Tuesday night's games against the Philadelphia Flyers.

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Ullmark is practicing with his teammates on Thursday afternoon and will fly with the team to Washington for the series against the Capitals. In a roster move that foreshadows an injury to goalie Carter Hutton, Sabres GM Kevyn Adams reassigned goalie Dustin Tokarski to the Sabres' practice squad. The taxi squad travels with the team while on the road.

Hutton suffered a head injury when he was slammed into by Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Ivan Provorov in the second period of Tuesday night's 3-0 Flyers win. Hutton played 40 minutes then sat out the final 20 minutes of play with his team trailing 1-0. Youngster Jonas Johansson allowed a soft goal against and then the Flyers pumped in an empty net goal.

Tokarski warming in the bullpen with Hutton off the ice today #LetsGoBuffalo https://t.co/zNUBRSQIZM

— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) January 21, 2021

My thoughts are with @Icebeardude and his family https://t.co/y2MQ2DDA1W

— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) January 21, 2021

Ullmark says that Jack Eichel gave him the game puck after Monday night’s win in Philly. A beautiful gesture by the captain on behalf of the entire team #LetsGoBuffalo

— SabresBuzz (@SabresBuzz) January 21, 2021

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