The Capitals held one final practice Tuesday morning before departing on their annual western Canada road trip. Prior to practice, the Capitals announced that Andre Burakovsky has been placed on injured reserve, due to an injury he sustained in the game against the Panthers on Saturday night. In addition, the team announced the recall of Forward Chandler Stephenson.
News
Alex Ovechkin, who took a tumble in Monday’s practice and left the ice and practice early, practiced Tuesday morning, and appeared to be fine.
Ovechkin is on the ice for practice after an injury scare yesterday. #Caps
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikNBCS) October 24, 2017
Following practice, Ovechkin was timed for speed and agility drills with Coach Trotz on the stop watch.
Trotz made Ovechkin skate a timed drill at the end of practice because he missed the conditioning portion of Monday’s session. #Caps
— Tarik El-Bashir (@TarikNBCS) October 24, 2017
Andre Burakovsky won’t go on western Canada trip. Will see a specialist today. Will miss some time. Not sure length yet.
The Latest Lines:
With the injury to Burakovsky and the call-up of Stephenson, Barry Trotz reconfigured his forward lines. Alex Chiasson was moved up to the second line to replace Burakovsky and a Jakub Vrana was moved down to the third line with Lars Eller and Brett Connolly.
Lines:
Wilson-Backstrom-Oshie
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Chiasson
Vrana-Eller-Connolly
Walker-Beagle-DSP— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) October 24, 2017
Chandler Stephenson participated in this morning’s practice. The Capitals defensive pairings remained the same: Djoos-Carlson, Orpik-Bowey, Orlov-Chorney.
Injury Updates:
Defenseman Matt Niskanen skated with strength and conditioning coach Mark Nemish before practice. Niskanen skated without a stick, but in full gear otherwise. Niskanen suffered an injury to his left thumb against the Devils on October 13th.
Schedule:
The Capitals will depart for Vancouver this afternoon. They will hold their first practice of the western Canada road trip tomorrow (Wednesday) at UBC Thunderbird Arena in Vancouver at 12:15 pm.
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