The Washington Capitals took to the ice on Thursday for the first time since their 6-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday. Capitals’ head coach Peter Laviolette gave players two consecutive days off on Tuesday and Wednesday as the team has a five-day break between games. Their next game is at home Sunday against the Minnesota Wild.
One player notably absent was Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. According to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Ovechkin took a maintenance day.
Ovechkin is taking a maintenance day, per the #Caps. It’s notable that the team was off Tuesday and Wednesday.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) March 31, 2022
Laviolette said after practice that he expects Ovechkin back on the ice Friday.
Ovechkin taking maintenance days to extend his rest is not uncommon as the 36-year-old superstar looks to prepare for the postseason push. Ovi missed three practices over a span of two weeks in early January. Ovechkin was also in COVID protocol in early February and missed All-Star Weekend, two regular-season NHL games, and around a week of time then too.
Ovi’s surprise day off comes 24 hours after a Twitter account called @bot_nhl published a fake rumor that Ovechkin was sent down to the AHL. That set off this series of Tweets that included the Hershey Bears responding.
Alex Ovechkin has been sent down to the AHL
— NHL Rumor Bot (@bot_nhl) March 30, 2022
That Ovechkin guy is washed up. He's only scoring about a goal per game lately. https://t.co/gnOdGrfsCb
— RMNB (@rmnb) March 30, 2022
— mol (@molfully) March 31, 2022
it’s true he told me himself pic.twitter.com/mlBvW7dDmO
— em (@e_munson) March 31, 2022
Hopefully, Ovi’s day is restful (and full of FIFA and Fortnite too).
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
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