After the Washington Capitals‘ day off on Friday, head coach Peter Laviolette shook his team’s forwards lines up and gave goaltender Pheonix Copley a closer look. The team made no changes on defense.

Carlson/Orlov d-pair working on defending zone entries. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/nrBvawS8Is

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 9, 2021

Laviolette flipped forwards Alex Ovechkin and Jakub Vrana in the top-six group and forward Daniel Sprong got a look on the third-line. Conor Sheary came out in favor of Sprong.

The fourth-line of Carl Hagelin, Nic Dowd, and Garnet Hathaway stayed the same.

Chara/Jensen d-pair working in zone. #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/OK1FwW4CMS

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) January 9, 2021

Craig Anderson was the Capitals’ third-string goaltender for Saturday’s practice.

The team opens the 2020-21 season on Thursday at the Buffalo Sabres (7 PM ET, NBC Sports Washington) so Laviolette and the rest of his coaching staff will have a few more days to settle on a lineup for opening night.

You can see the lines from Saturday’s rushes below:

Capitals lines and D in main practice group today: (A couple changes)

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Oshie
Vrana-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Sprong-Eller-Panik
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Orlov-Carlson
Dillon-Schultz
Chara-Jensen
Siegenthaler-van Riemsdyk

Samsonov
Anderson
Copley

— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) January 9, 2021

Images From Practice (by Joe Noyes)

By Harrison Brown