Ovechkin, 3 more Caps who violated COVID-19 rules to miss at least 4 games

Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Ilya Samsonov, and Dmitry Orlov are in quarantine and will miss at least the next four games, Washington Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette announced Thursday.

All four players were on the league's COVID-19 list Wednesday after violating protocols, leading to a $100,000 team fine. The Capitals announced shortly after that the players were interacting in the team hotel outside of club-approved areas.

Samsonov, the club's starting goaltender, tested positive and immediately went into isolation, according to Samantha Pell of The Washington Post. Laviolette said Thursday the league conducted contact tracing after discovering the result.

"We understand why the rules are in place and there's no arguing with that. We want to be compliant. We made a mistake and we need to do a better job," Laviolette said.

The Capitals play four games over the next seven days - two versus the Buffalo Sabres and two against the New York Islanders. Washington is in second place in the East Division with a 2-0-2 record, but collecting points with four key players sidelined will be tough.

Ovechkin's wife, Nastya, was critical of the NHL's COVID-19 protocols in her Instagram story on Thursday.

"Of course you can't catch the virus when you and your teammates sit together on the bench, hug each other when they score a goal, or when they are all together in the lounge or locker room," part of it read. "Players can't get infected when they are at the restaurants, supermarkets, malls, etc ... Virus only works in a hotel room. The one who came up with this rule, obviously is very logical!"

Washington returns to the ice Friday at 7:00 p.m. ET.