Defenseman Michal Kempny, who has not played this season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon on October 6, and forward T.J. Oshie, who missed the Washington Capitals‘ last two regular-season games with a lower-body injury, are still day-to-day.
The team said that Oshie is still out and has yet to be cleared. Kempny wore a no-contact jersey after colliding with a shoveler during his conditioning stint with the AHL’s Hershey Bears this past Saturday. The Capitals open their best-of-seven first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Boston Bruins at Capital One Arena on Saturday (7:15 PM ET, NBC).
CAPS TODAY: Carl Hagelin, Justin Schultz and Conor Sheary will become the first set of teammates since 1997 to win multiple Cups with one team and then skate in the postseason together with another club. More info and Caps Clips at https://t.co/HecIC0ECg1 pic.twitter.com/vYXXksLRC1
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) May 14, 2021
Goaltender Ilya Samsonov and center Evgeny Kuznetsov remained in COVID-19 protocol for the 11th consecutive day. Neither has played since May 1.
Goaltender Vitek Vanecek left the Capitals’ practice early on Friday with Pheonix Copley and Craig Anderson to work with goalie coach Scott Murray on conditioning. Head coach Peter Laviolette announced on Thursday that he will keep the starting goalie private throughout the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Capitals owner Ted Leonsis discussed the future of captain Alex Ovechkin, who can become an unrestricted free agent on July 28.
Ted Leonsis on Alex Ovechkin’s contract status: “I’m not concerned. He’s not concerned. Our concern is the Boston Bruins.”
“Alex has been around a long, long time & has a lot of trust and confidence in us & knows the most important thing right now is to focus on the playoffs.”
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) May 14, 2021
Here is the list of players that showed up for Friday’s optional practice for the Capitals:
Skating in Capitals optional practice today:
Forwards: Oshie, Wilson, Sprong, Hagelin, Dowd, Maillet, Carr, Pilon
Defensemen: Dillon, TvR, Fehervary
Goalies: Anderson, Copley
*Vanecek and Kempny (Iower-body, non-contact) were on the ice earlier, left before main drills began.
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) May 14, 2021
Here were the Bruins’ line combinations for Friday’s practice:
Bruins Practice Lines:
Marchand-Bergeron-Pastrnak
Hall-Krejci-Smith
Ritchie-Kuraly-Coyle
DeBrusk-Lazar-Wagner
Frederic-KuhlmanGrzelcyk-McAvoy
Reilly-Carlo
Lauzon-Clifton
Tinordi-VaakanainenRask
Swayman— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) May 14, 2021
By Harrison Brown