The Capitals returned to practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex Monday morning following a much-needed day off on Sunday. The Capitals will look to rebound from their embarrassing 8-2 drubbing in South Philly on Saturday night when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs Tuesday night at Capital One Arena.
Practice:
It looks like Barry Trotz has once again changed up the defensive pairs for Tuesday night’s tilt with Toronto. It looks like Aaron Ness is now the seventh Defenseman.
New D pairs for the #Caps: 44-22; 29-74; and 9-4. Appears 55 is rotating in.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikNBCS) October 16, 2017
Trotz is now going with the Orpik-Bowey, Djoos-Carlson and Orlov-Chorney pairs, with Niskanen out of the lineup.
Lars Eller did not attend practice this morning (illness). Eller showed up at Kettler this morning unde the weather, and was sent home by the team. As a result the forward lines also looked a little different. Trotz stated after practice he wasn’t sure if Eller would be able to go tomorrow night versus Toronto.
Tyler Graovac replaced Eller at the third line Center position.
Defense: Orpik-Bowey; Djoos-Carlson; Orlov-Chorney
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) October 16, 2017
Braden Holtby will get the start tomorrow night versus the high-flying Maple Leafs.
Shavings:
- The Capitals will hold their annual season ticket holder event this evening at Capital One Arena.
- Through the first six games of the season, Evgeny Kuznetsov’s 11 assists leads the NHL. Kuznetsov became the first player to record 11 assists within a team’s first six games since Joe Thornton in the 2012-13 season.
- Currently, Kuznetsov is tied with Nicklas Backstrom for the NHL lead in points (11). Alex Ovechkin leads the NHL in goals (9). The Capitals have three players with with at least 10 points this season (Kuznetsov: 11, Backstrom: 11, Ovehckin: 10). No other team has one player.
The Dmen working on their shots after practice. That's associate coach Todd Reirden in the middle. #Caps pic.twitter.com/OqH5TbP5GG
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikNBCS) October 16, 2017
Can they work on defensive zone coverage instead?
Agree, that’s two votes for defensive zone work.
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