BALLSTON, Va. - The Washington Capitals held their typical morning skate Saturday at Kettler Capitals Iceplex before their game with the Ottawa Senators, but something atypical took place on the ice: Alexander Semin did not participate in line rushes. After practice, head coach Dale Hunter said that Semin is out Saturday and day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
UPDATE: Via The Washington Post's Katie Carrera, Semin is suffering from an injured right shoulder.
Semin was one of the last players to leave the ice before team meetings. Joining him were Tomas Vokoun (meaning that Michal Neuvirth will get the start), Mathieu Perreault, Cody Eakin and Jay Beagle, who returned to skating after a setback in his recovery from a concussion suffered October 13 in a fight with the Pittsburgh Penguins' Arron Asham.
Semin worked with assistant coach Jim Johnson, while Perreault, Eakin and Vokoun worked with coaches Dean Evason and Dave Prior. Normally, staying out for extra work denotes a healthy scratch, but according to Hunter, the exact opposite is the case.
Without Semin, the forward lines looked like this:
Alex Ovechkin - Nicklas Backstrom - Troy Brouwer
Cody Eakin - Marcus Johansson - Mike Knuble
Jason Chimera - Brooks Laich - Joel Ward
Matt Hendricks - Mathieu Perreault - Jeff Halpern
On the defensive side, Roman Hamrlik did not skate Saturday and is still day-to-day with a lower-body injury. Hamrlik did not play in Thursday's 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins and Hunter said Saturday that the injury is nothing concerning.
Mike Green, who had skated before practice six of the last seven days, did not skate.