The Washington Capitals practiced for the second straight day at MedStar Capitals Iceplex after a couple of days off following their blowout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes. The team takes the ice for a game next on Sunday against the Minnesota Wild.
According to NBC Sports Washington’s JJ Regan, returning to the ice at practice after taking a maintenance day on Thursday was Caps captain Alex Ovechkin.
Regan also reports that with Ovechkin’s return to the ice came the return of a top line trio that spent over 680 minutes together at five-on-five in the 2018-19 through 2020-21 seasons. That trio includes Ovi, a 1,000 point club joining Nicklas Backstrom, and lover of all animals Tom Wilson.
In those 680-plus minutes together at five-on-five, the Caps have seen 52.2-percent of the shot attempts, 48.7-percent of the expected goals, 52.7-percent of the scoring chances, and 49.3-percent of the high danger chances with that line on the ice. That’s a bit of a mixed bag and it’d be another rare occurrence of Ovi not lining up next to Evgeny Kuznetsov this season.
Wow! Evgeny Kuznetsov has been quietly pretty good this season so far! Now he has 65 points in 65 games and it is his best season since 2017-2018 season for sure. He's playing like legit 1st line offensive center in our eyes. Great for the Capitals. pic.twitter.com/AUcPGE7qyk
— Andy & Rono (@ARHockeyStats) April 1, 2022
Another notable attendee at Friday’s skate was defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk. TVR has been skating with the team recently after missing time due to injury but until Friday it had been only in a non-contact sweater. Regan reports that that has changed.
A return for TVR to the lineup is much needed for the Caps as Michal Kempny has struggled mightily to replace him on the team’s third pairing. When Kempny hits the ice this season at five-on-five, the team sees only 42.8-percent of the shot attempts, 44.4-percent of the expected goals, 43.1-percent of the scoring chances, and 43.2-percent of the high danger chances. He has also already taken eight minor penalties in the 15 games he’s seen NHL time in.
TVR has been on injured reserve since suffering his upper-body injury in mid-March against the Canes.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir also says newly acquired forward Johan Larsson will likely get his Caps debut against Minnesota. He skated on a practice line with Nic Dowd and Garnet Hathaway in place of Axel Jonsson-Fjallby.
Headline photo: Elizabeth Kong/RMNB
