Toward the end of Wednesday’s practice each of the Capitals forwards practiced passing the puck through a tire. This wasn’t the first time this morning the Caps worked on their passing. At the beginning of practice over at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, they worked on individual passing and controlling the puck around the cones. This drill was a lot more different and unique. 

The object of the drill is to put some air under the pass to get the puck through the tire to your teammate for them to shoot. First the receiver of the pass skates around the tire, then the next man up in line has to fire the puck through the tire to their teammate. The participants were Alex Ovechkin, T.J. Oshie, Jakub Vrana, and Devante Smith-Pelly.

We all know why Ovechkin was doing extra work on his passing. He needs just one more assist to join his buddy Nicklas Backstrom in the 500 assist club.

There’s a tire on the other end of the ice! The forwards are practicing their passing! #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/CSWVUU4APU

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 24, 2018

One forward was missing at first and that was Devante Smith-Pelly. Where was he, you may ask? DSP was over on the other end working on his deflections with the defense.

What’s Devante Smith-Pelly doing on the other side of the ice with the defense? Putting in extra work on puck deflections #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/AAA9Aq9dSg

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 24, 2018

DSP finally saw what was going on and jumped right in, feeding the puck to Jakub Vrana.

DSP comes to the other side to join in on the fun with Jakub Vrana #ALLCAPSpic.twitter.com/HiFqNSUTto

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 24, 2018

Vrana then feeds Smith-Pelly for the good old DSP backhander.

If you have a creative mind, you’d think the players were skating around the tire for a ritual. A ritual that could help end a three-game losing streak. We’ll see if it works Thursday night. Oshie then picked it up…

Ring around the tire or shoot at the tire? I can’t tell #ALLCAPSpic.twitter.com/7VMYorlwTT

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 24, 2018

And put the tire away. The Caps are off to Florida! Stay tuned to NoVaCaps.com for more on today’s practice.

The tire fun has ended 😢#ALLCAPSpic.twitter.com/Ilsc3ybnIz

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 24, 2018

By Michael Marzzacco
Follow @marswaggo

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@Capitals T.J. Oshie plucks his kids from the crowd for a little family time. Photos from today's practice are up on our site. #Capitals #Caps #RockTheRed #LetsGoCaps

A post shared by NoVa Caps (@nova_caps) on Jan 6, 2018 at 11:29am PST