Photo: @Capitals

The Washington Capitals skated at MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Tuesday in preparations for their game on Thursday night at Bell Centre against the Montreal Canadiens. Here are all of the news and notes from Tuesday’s practice: 

After taking a maintenance day on Sunday, Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik was missing again on Tuesday due to a lower-body injury, according to the team. He was on the ice with skills coach Dwayne Blais prior to practice. With Orpik missing from practice, defenseman Madison Bowey skated with Christian Djoos on the third pair. However, he took drills with the team’s other defensemen before the team’s main practice. Reirden said after practice that he expected Orpik to be in the lineup against Montreal on Thursday.

Seems that Brooks Orpik is again missing from practice. Took a maintenance day on Sunday and yesterday was a day off for the team. @JJReganNBCS tells me he was on the ice with skills coach Dwayne Blais before practice.

— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) October 30, 2018

The Capitals also practiced in their alternate uniforms for the first time this season. The team will wear them for the first time on November 11 against the Arizona Coyotes.

Breaking in the 3rds this morning #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/46wYCkevIR

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 30, 2018

Capitals’ Lines

Capitals lines today:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Vrana
Burakovsky-Backstrom-Oshie
Stephenson-Eller-Connolly
Jaskin-Dowd-DSP

Orlov-Niskanen
Kempny-Carlson
DJ Oos-Bowey

Holtby
Copley

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) October 30, 2018

Caps Today

CAPS TODAY: John Carlson has led the Capitals in ice time in nine of the Capitals’ 10 games this season, and his 26:00 TOI per game (minimum: two games played) ranks third in the NHL. More info on https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/cnAepEt7JZ

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) October 30, 2018

Shavings

-The Capitals are 8-0-1 in their previous nine games at Bell Centre

-Captain Alex Ovechkin has recorded 27 goals and 49 points in 45 career games against the Canadiens

-Goalie Braden Holtby is 11-1-2 with a save percentage of .944, a goals-against average of 1.57, and two shutouts in his career against Montreal

-The Capitals play the last game of a four-game Canadian road trip in Montreal on Thursday; the team is 2-1-0 and has scored nine goals during that stretch

-Defenseman John Carlson‘s 26:00 of average ice time per game ranks third in the NHL; his 14 points (goals) in the month of October set a franchise record for most points in the month of October by a defenseman (Larry Murphy: 12 points, 1986-87); he recorded his five multi-point games within the first eight games of the season, and he became the 10th different defenseman in NHL history to do so, and the first since Jeff Brown in the 1993-1994 season, per NHL Stats.

By Harrison Brown