After a day off on Saturday, the Washington Capitals returned to MedStar Capitals Iceplex on Sunday for their first workout of the postseason. The team will practice again Monday morning (10:30 AM) before departing for south Florida in advance of their first-round series opener with the Panthers on Tuesday.
Alex Ovechkin, who missed the final two games of the Capitals regular season, was once again a participant at this morning’s practice.
Alex Ovechkin stepping on the ice for #AllCaps practice. pic.twitter.com/tdST64BRxq
— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) May 1, 2022
Ovechkin (upper body) said he feels good and he could have played in the final three games of the regular season if they were postseason games. They weren’t — so they wanted to be cautious.
Forward line combinations were once again in flux Sunday morning as Conor Sheary returned to the top line and Tom Wilson moved down to the second line. On the left side, all wingers dropped a line with the addition of Ovechkin.
#AllCaps lines:
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary
Johansson-Backstrom-Wilson
Mantha-Eller-Oshie
Larsson-Dowd-HathawayFehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
van Riemsdyk-Schultz— Stephen Whyno (@SWhyno) May 1, 2022
The Capitals will look to maximize their time on the power play in the Panthers series, as the Cats had the 16th ranked penalty kill in the league this season. Power play units at the first practice:
Capitals PP1 at practice: Carlson, Ovechkin, Oshie, Backstrom, Kuznetsov
PP2: Schultz, Orlov, Wilson, Mantha, Johansson
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) May 1, 2022
The Capitals announced Sunday morning that they have recalled goaltender Zach Fucale from AHL Hersey.
The captain @ovi8 taking one timers at #ALLCAPS practice pic.twitter.com/G4uQA4pZXI
— Scotty2Hottie (@rock_on85) May 1, 2022
Panthers At A Glance
The Capitals will look to defeat the Presidents’ Trophy-winning team in Round One of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Former members of the dissolved Southeast Division from 1998-2013, Washington holds an all-time record of 67-43-9-12 against Florida.
This season, the Capitals went 1-1-1 against the Panthers. All three games were decided by one goal with Washington winning 4-3 on Nov. 26 at Capital One Arena, dropping a 5-4 decision in overtime on Nov. 4 in Florida and losing 5-4 on Nov. 30 in Florida.
Caps captain Alex Ovechkin led the team with six points (4g, 2a) in three games against the Panthers this season, including a hat trick on Nov. 26 in Washington.
Playoff Run
The Capitals’ run of eight consecutive playoff appearances – the second-longest in franchise history behind a stretch of 14 straight from 1983 to 1996 – includes a Stanley Cup win in 2018 and is the second-longest active stretch.
Greetings from the #Gr8 pic.twitter.com/D8TmVSN9Hj
— x – Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 1, 2022
Despite finishing the season with 288-man games lost due to injuries, the Caps finished with a 44-26-12 record and reached the 100-point mark for the sixth time in the last eight seasons. Washington is the only team in the NHL that has collected 100 points six times during that span.
The Dynamic Duo
Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom, who between them own the Capitals records for career playoff goals, assists, points and games played, are expected to extend their shared franchise benchmark for most years in the postseason to 14. They are two of 14 active players with at least 100 career playoff points, and one of four sets of current teammates in the playoffs (also Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh; Nikita Kucherov and Corey Perry, Tampa Bay; Patrice Bergeron and Brad Marchand, Boston). Ovechkin has 71 career playoff goals (141 games) – the most among active players and one back of tying Esa Tikkanen (72 in 186 games) and Patrick Marleau (72 in 195 games) for 14th place in NHL history.
Ovechkin is also tied for ninth place in the Stanley Cup Playoffs record books with 27 power-play goals, trailing only Evgeni Malkin (28) among active players. Meanwhile, Backstrom sits at 72 career playoff assists (133 games), five shy of cracking the NHL’s top-50 in career playoff assists.
Scenes From Practice
Garnet Hathaway makes this young #Caps fan (and Hath fan) so happy! Love the bump into the glass at the end 😊 #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/FBKzO3mgne
— Heather McDonough (@HeatherMcD4) May 1, 2022
On This Day
On this day in 2018, with just over a minute remaining in the third period, Alex Ovechkin batted in the game-winning goal to give the Capitals a 2-1 series lead over the Penguins #Hockey365 #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/1wWbGJ9t54
— Mike Commito (@mikecommito) May 1, 2022
From The Other Side
#FlaPanthers Gudas on facing #AllCaps Ovechkin: “I’m sure there is much (to keeping him in check). He shoots at everything. … We can’t give him any respect. We have to play him as hard as anyone else.” pic.twitter.com/nyoLb86fkB
— Erin Brown (@rinkside) May 1, 2022
#FlaPanthers Brunette on facing #AllCaps: “They’re not an eight seed. In any other year, they’d be a top-four seed. … It’s a new season anyway, regardless of where you finished after 82 (games).”
— Erin Brown (@rinkside) May 1, 2022
Common disarray- just the way we like it. Caps in 6.
It’s all in the plan. He anthers have no idea who will be in goal, or what our lines will be
That Ovi goal is often overlooked.
Roger that.