The Washington Capitals returned to MedStar Capitals Iceplex Monday morning for practice following a day off for the team on Sunday. The Capitals begin a three-game home stand Tuesday night when they host the Detroit Red Wings at Capital One Arena. Puck drop is set for 7PM.
Nic Dowd (lower body injury) returned to centering the 4th line. Lars Eller moved to left wing on the third line with Sonny Milano. Aliaksei Protas and Nicolas Aube-Kubel shared the left wing on the fourth line.
Dmitry Orlov moved up to the top pairing with Trevor van Riemsdyk. Martin Fehervary moved up to the second pairing with Nick Jensen. Erik Gustafsson moved down from the top pair to the third pair with Dylan McIlrath. The forward lines and defensive pairs at Monday’s practice, courtesy of Tom Gulitti/NHL.com:
Connor Sheary — Evgeny Kuznetsov — Tom Wilson
Anthony Mantha — Dylan Strome — T.J. Oshie
Sonny Milano/Lars Eller — Nicklas Backstrom — Marcus Johansson
Nicolas Aube-Kubel/Aliaksei Protas — Nic Dowd — Garnet Hathaway
Dmitry Orlov — Trevor Van Riemsdyk
Martin Fehervary — Nick Jensen
Erik Gustafsson – Dylan McIlrath
Darcy Kuemper
Charlie Lindgren
Extras: Alexander Alexeyev, Matt Irwin
Dowd called this his first full practice in six weeks and said he didn’t know if he’d play tomorrow yet. Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette said Dowd is “definitely getting closer” and they plan to discuss this afternoon whether he’ll be able to play tomorrow.
ALEX OVECHKIN
Capitals head coach Peter Laviolette was asked after practice when Alex Ovechkin might return from Russia.
Peter Laviolette on when Alex Ovechkin might be back for #Caps: “I’m hoping this week. I haven’t communicated with him, but we’ll see. He’s dealing with stuff at home.”
— Roman Stubbs (@romanstubbs) February 20, 2023
MAKE-A-WISH
Liam Reigel, 12, is at Capitals practice with Make A Wish and gets the team celebration treatment after scoring on Darcy Kuemper.
Liam Reigel, 12, is at Capitals practice with Make A Wish and gets the team celebration treatment after scoring on Darcy Kuemper pic.twitter.com/5n5KSQZFSQ
— Tom Gulitti (@TomGulittiNHL) February 20, 2023
Liam, from Eldersburg, Md., has a brain tumor and wanted to meet Lars Eller, who is his favorite player.
JOHN CARLSON
John Carlson was on the ice before Capitals practice on Monday morning, working out with Capitals skating coach, Wendy Marco. Carlson has been out since he was hit in the head by a shot on December 23.
John Carlson is on the ice in full gear working with Wendy Marco of @ColdRushHockey. The #Caps’ No. 1 defenseman has been out since taking a 90 mph slap shot to the side of his head in late December. pic.twitter.com/nknYeVKAXA
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) February 20, 2023
The Capitals have said Carlson will be reevaluated at end of the month to determine the next steps for him, but he’s still a ways away from returning.
STAT OF THE DAY – SHOOTING PERCENTAGE
Today’s stat of the day revisits the Capitals team shooting percentage at five-on-five over the course of the season (58 games). [Click to enlarge].
The Capitals have dropped to an even 8.00% after 58 games. The steady decline since mid-January has the Capitals now well below the league average of 8.41%. They are now 20th in the league.
Bonus Stat – why the return of Nic Dowd is so important can be easily defined in the following metrics table.
[The statistics used in this post are courtesy of Natural Stat Trick, MoneyPuck and the NoVa Caps Advanced Analytics Model (NCAAM). If you’d like to learn more about the statistical terms used in this post, please check out our NHL Analytics Glossary]
DOWN ON THE FARM
Ethen Frank scored the first goal of the game in both of the Bears games against the Checkers this weekend in Charlotte. Sunday’s goal came less than two minutes into the contest.
Ethen Frank for his 23rd of the season. Nice outlet pass by LuJo. Bears lead 1-0 early in the first. #ALLCAPS #HBH pic.twitter.com/852JYZuduR
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 19, 2023
Ryan Hofer scored his 34th goal of the season on Sunday. He also recoded an assist, his 19th in 49 games played so far this season.
They call him Hand-Eye Hofer 👀 🔥@Capitals pic.twitter.com/pnAd7DdUQw
— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) February 19, 2023
Connor McMichael was the only Bear to convert in the shootout against the Checkers on Sunday.
Connor McMichael converts in the shootout. #HBH #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/5xDbV7KS2R
— Capitals Prospects (@jon_m_sorensen) February 19, 2023
Hendrix Lapierre was a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game on Sunday. Bears bench boss Todd Nelson spoke about the scratching of Lapierre during his regular appearance on the Bears pregame show on Saturday.
“Lappy’s sitting out, just because, right now he is frustrated. We kinda wanna use this as a reset button for him. He’s a great kid, he’s a student of the game. We just want him to watch the game from up top. Watch the intensity of the players, playing. We just feel that his intensity has to rise up. That’s very common with a young player like him. He’ll get back in the lineup very soon.” [MORE HERE]
SHAVINGS
- The Islanders announced Monday morning that Mathew Barzal will be out indefinitely with a lower body injury. Lane Lambert wouldn’t engage on questions as to whether Mat Barzal is out for the season or if he’s at risk for missing the start of training camp. Just repeats he’s out indefinitely and he’ll leave it at that.