The Washington Capitals took to the ice on Sunday after taking down the Columbus Blue Jackets in their preseason finale the night prior. The Caps had a scheduled day of practice before being off on Monday, practicing Tuesday, and then opening the regular season at home against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday.
One player notably absent was Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. According to The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Ovechkin took a maintenance day.
Alex Ovechkin will not practice today. Maintenance, per the #Caps.
— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) October 9, 2022
Ovechkin played 19:04 of ice time in the win over Columbus and scored his second goal of the preseason.
The Great Eight taking regular maintenance days has become more and more common as the 37-year-old looks to remain fresh late in his career. He took several days off last season around the winter months to prepare for what he had hoped to be a longer spring.
Ovi’s surprise day off comes after he scored that preseason goal in front of his sons Sergei and Ilya inside of Capital One Arena. He had four shots on goal and eight attempts overall in the game.
HOLY SHMOLY pic.twitter.com/beSivA5nD8
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 8, 2022
Before the game, the Capitals’ social media team took a video of the Caps captain very excitedly greeting his sons by the glass during warmups.
OMG 🫶#OviJr pic.twitter.com/Pa3VNL2oMG
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) October 8, 2022
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
