The Washington Capitals will return to full strength on defense against the St. Louis Blues, Wednesday night.

Rasmus Sandin, who has missed the past five games due to an upper-body injury, will be back in the team’s lineup. Head coach Spencer Carbery shared the news after the club’s morning skate and said getting the Swedish defender back will aid a Capitals team that has lost four games in a row.

“Yeah, he’ll play tonight,” Carbery confirmed. “It’s a big boost. Missing him the last few games, have felt it a little bit. I think he does a little bit of everything, and maybe showed our group and our coaching staff when he’s out of the lineup, it does look a touch different. I know some of the things that he does fly under the radar a little bit, but he’s a big part of our team, and he’s a well-rounded defenseman. He does a lot of things really, really well that sometimes don’t show up on the stat sheet.”

Sandin is averaging 19:23 of ice time per game this fall and recorded two assists in his last three games before leaving the Capitals’ lineup. He has been lining up on the team’s third pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk at practice the past two days.

Sandin has also taken up an increased role on the team’s penalty kill, playing 1:27 of shorthanded ice time per game. The 25-year-old rearguard averaged just 37 seconds of PK ice time last year.

“I think he’s done a good job working in on the penalty kill,” Carbery said. “Scotty and Wellsy [are] utilizing him there. I think he’s paid attention to it, wants to do it, has worked on the little details that you need to do for being an undersized defenseman to be an effective PKer. His stick, anticipation of where pucks are going, where skill guys want to attack, and where they’re trying to exploit, and he’s done a good job. Been happy with his penalty killing and, for that matter, his defending overall, even five-on-five.”

The Capitals went 1-3-1 without Sandin in the lineup. With him back in action, Declan Chisholm will rejoin Dylan McIlrath as the healthy scratches on the backend.

St. Louis comes into Wednesday’s matchup having just snapped a seven-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Monday night. The Capitals split their two games against the Blues last season, falling on home ice 5-2 in a late February test.