The Washington Capitals held a skate at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, Thursday morning.
The Thanksgiving Day practice was necessitated due to the team’s Black Friday game against the Calgary Flames. Puck drop is at 2 pm (the time players usually nap ahead of normal 7 pm games) and Washington was not going to host a morning skate.
Head coach Peter Laviolette had no significant line changes after the Capitals managed to end their four-game losing streak with a win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday. Alex Ovechkin scored the overtime game-winner to give the Caps the 3-2 comeback victory.
The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir reported how the team lined up.
Thanksgiving practice lines and pairs:
Ovechkin-Strome-Sheary
Milano-Kuznetsov-Oshie
Johansson-Eller-Mantha
NAK/Protas-Dowd-Hathaway
SnivelyGustafsson-Carlson
Fehervary-Jensen
Irwin-TvR
Orlov-AlexeyevKuemper
Lindgren#Caps— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 24, 2022
Dmitry Orlov skated on an extra pairing with Alex Alexeyev suggesting he still is not ready to return from his injury. Nicolas Aube-Kubel took reps with Aliaksei Protas on the left wing of the fourth line. Protas dressed on Wednesday while NAK sat against the Flyers. Joe Snively was the extra.
The Capitals also did work on the power play. The first unit remains unchanged while the second unit no longer includes Anthony Mantha. The forwards include Evgeny Kuznetsov, Conor Sheary, and Sonny Milaon.
PP1: Ovechkin, Oshie, Carlson, Strome and Johansson
PP2: Kuznetsov, Sheary, Milano, Gustafsson and TvR— Tarik El-Bashir (@Tarik_ElBashir) November 24, 2022
The second power-play unit also includes Trevor van Riemsdyk, but as El-Bashir pointed out on Twitter, that is not a change. TVR has been in that spot for a number of weeks, but no one would know because Alex Ovechkin usually stays on the ice for the entire two minutes of the power play.
The team held a family skate after practice concluded and many of the team’s kids took swirls around the ice with their dads.
After the Capitals’ game against the Flames on Friday, the team will travel up to Newark to take on the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night. The Devils have won 13 of their last 14 games. The Devils’ long winning streak ended on Wednesday against the Maple Leafs after they had three goals overturned.
