After a day off on Wednesday, the Washington Capitals were back to work Thursday morning to begin preparations for the New York Islanders. The Capitals will practice again on Friday before departing for Long Island Friday afternoon in advance of their tilt with the Islanders Saturday afternoon.
Alex Ovechkin took a spin on the ice Thursday morning but left and did not continue with practice. He was a precautionary hold-out with an upper-body injury.
Alex Ovechkin will not skate at Capitals practice today. Upper-body, it is precautionary, per team.
— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 13, 2022
Lines at Thursday’s practice:
Capitals lines at practice today w/o Ovechkin (upper-body, precautionary):
Protas-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Sheary-Backstrom-Wilson
McMichael-Eller-Sprong
Leason-Dowd-HathawayFehervary-Carlson
TvR-Jensen
Irwin-Schultz— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) January 13, 2022
Head coach Peter Laviolette met with the media following Thursday’s practice. He spoke about Alex Ovechkin, Conor Sheary and playing in the new Isles arena on Saturday after today’s practice.
Conor Sheary also met with the media following practice.
Evgeny Kuznetsov
Evgeny Kuznetsov has recorded seven points (4g, 3a) in his last eight games and his 35 points (12g, 23a) in 34 games this season rank second on the Capitals. Kuznetsov is averaging 21:47 of ice time this season, eclipsing his single-season career high set in 2017-18 by nearly three minutes (18:49). The Chelyabinsk, Russia native is on pace to record 81 points this season, which would be the second highest total of his career (2017-18: 83 points).
Kuznetsov is tied for the team lead in game-winning goals (3), leads Washington in game-winning assists (8) and ranks second in penalties drawn (12). The Capitals, who sit one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 20-8-9, are 15-3-3 when Kuznetsov records a point.
Additionally, Kuznetsov’s 62.0 goals for percentage at five-on-five (31 goals for, 19 goals against) ranks second in the NHL among forwards with at least 500 minutes of five-on-five play, trailing only Alex Ovechkin (64.06 percent)
Kuznetsov has registered nine multi-point efforts this season, including three games with three assists. He is one of six players in the NHL to record three individual three-assist games this season (Jonathan Huberdeau, Nathan MacKinnon, Nazem Kadri, Kirill Kaprizov, Quinn Hughes).
Outside The Nations Capital
The four divisional rosters for the 2022 NHL All-Star Game will be revealed Thursday exclusively on ESPN’s SportsCenter program, the TV network tweeted. The reveal program will be hosted by Steve Levy, along with analysts and former NHLers Chris Chelios and Mark Messier.
