WASHINGTON — Four Washington Capitals players, including captain Alex Ovechkin, will miss at least four upcoming games, following a positive coronavirus test on the team. Capitals goalie Ilya Samsonov has tested positive for the virus, two people with knowledge with the situation said Thursday.

The team received news of Samsonov’s positive test Tuesday night, after a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Samsonov, who did not play Tuesday, immediately went into isolation and is following the league’s coronavirus guidelines, according to one person with knowledge of the situation. He stayed in Pittsburgh while the rest of the team flew back to Washington, but has since returned to the D.C. area.

Samsonov was asymptomatic at the time of his positive test, according to the person with knowledge of the situation.

Four players — Samsonov, Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov — were placed on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol-related absences list Wednesday night after the positive test. The test triggered contact tracing, which occurred Wednesday morning.

The NHL’s COVID-related absences list does not specify which players have tested positive and which players are wrapped up in contact tracing issues. The league does not release the names of players who test positive.

Through the contact tracing process, the team and league learned all four Russians hung out multiple times together in a Pittsburgh hotel room during their road trip, according to one person with knowledge of the matter. At those gatherings, which violated NHL protocols, the players watched sports and played video games.

“I know that there was a positive case and through their tracing and their tracking, the players were honest with what they did,” Washington coach Peter Laviolette said Thursday. Both Ovechkin and Orlov have the COVID-19 antibodies, Ovechkin’s wife, Nastya, wrote on Instagram on Thursday morning.

“I regret my choice to spend time together with my teammates in our hotel room and away from the locker room areas,” Ovechkin said in a statement Wednesday: “I will learn from this experience.”

The NHL is not expected to postpone Friday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, which is Washington’s home opener. Ovechkin, Orlov and Kuznetsov are expected to miss at least the Capitals’ next four games because of quarantine protocols, though.

“I think all of us are in this together,” Nicklas Backstrom said, when asked if it was disappointing to learn of the violation. “It doesn’t matter if it’s four guys out. We’re a team and we do everything together so I think we all take blame in this. But we’ve got to learn from it and be tighter and follow the protocol.”

Washington’s next four games are at home. The Capitals play the Sabres again on Sunday, then face the New York Islanders on Tuesday and Thursday.

Local officials and medical professionals establish the guidelines that players follow in cities and states. All four players missed practice Thursday.

The Capitals were fined $100,000 for the violations, which the league said “involved social interactions among team members who were in close contact and who were not wearing face coverings.”

“We’re a team that happens to be very close and likes to be together,” Oshie said. “We’ve just been reminded that there’s rules in place to keep everybody safe. We just have to follow those all the time.”

Players are prohibited from practicing or playing while they are on the COVID-19 protocol-related absences list.

There are a few ways that a player who tests positive can be cleared to return to the team, according to NHL protocols. If he is asymptomatic and remains that way while he is isolated, he can return 10 days after his first positive test.

If he is symptomatic or become symptomatic during isolation, he can be cleared when at least 10 days have passed since the date his symptoms appeared, and at least 24 hours have passed since last fever. He can also be cleared if he tests negative twice and his condition improves.

“I don’t think it’s a distraction,” T.J. Oshie said of the players’ absences from upcoming games. “We know that those guys want to be here. They want to be in the lineup and they feel terrible that they’re not and they put themselves in a situation that they’re not going to be playing with us.”

The NHL’s coronavirus guidelines make clear that players and team personnel who travel this season are “required to stay in a single occupancy room, and no individual shall permit guests or other personnel in their room.”

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