The Washington Capitals held a short practice on Friday morning at a jam-packed MedStar Capitals Iceplex. The team hosted a field trip at the rink, 802 “juiced up” elementary kids from Arlington County Public Schools, to celebrate Alex Ovechkin hitting the 800 goals milestone and passing Gordie Howe for second on the NHL’s all-time goals list in December.
“I thought we felt it out there,” Laviolette said. “We felt that engine (from the kids). I thought practice was good. I thank them for that. It was a good peppy practice for 30 minutes. The kids had a lot to do with that.”
The Capitals did have new line combinations, per NBC Sports Washington’s Matt Weyrich, but it’s unclear how to much to make of them.
Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Sheary/NAK
Milano-Backstrom-Wilson
Oshie-Dowd-Mantha
Johansson/Strome-Eller-Hathaway
“It’s just practice right now,” Laviolette said afterward. “We’re just looking at different things. Slotting guys in.”
The most controversial changes came in the bottom six where Nic Dowd was split up from his longtime running mate Garnet Hathaway. Dowd centered the third line with TJ Oshie and Anthony Mantha. Lars Eller dropped to the fourth and skated with Dylan Strome and Marcus Johansson on the left and Garnet Hathway on the right.
After losing to the Nashville Predators 3-2, the Capitals welcomed back Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson on January 8 against the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Caps’ first two games with their stars back have not gone particularly well. Lacking cohesion and chemistry in their forward ranks, the Capitals scored only two goals during the first 100 minutes of hockey against Columbus and Philadelphia combined. Marcus Johansson and TJ Oshie finally broke that bad stretch by scoring a five-on-five goal each late in the third period against the Flyers.
Strome, who spent most of the season centering the top line, has felt Backstrom’s return the most. He went to the wing on the second line in Backstrom’s season debut and then dropped to third-line center against the Flyers on Wednesday. If Dylan ends up on the fourth line against the Flyers Saturday, that would mark the lowest he’s been in the lineup this season.
“We’ve got to move some guys out of position,” Laviolette said. “We’re trying some things. I think that happens when you’re starting something. So there’s two guys back from injury — TJ’s been back from injury for a half dozen games now — and Nick and Tom are back. We have to slot these guys in and see what’s working what’s not working. It’s not so much the line somebody’s on has to go score a goal. It’s more about the team and if we’re driving play.”
But again, it’s unclear how much stock to put into these lines. Per the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, Anthony Mantha, TJ Oshie, and Matt Irwin participated in the “scratches skate” before practice.
Saturday’s morning skate should tell us way more about how the Capitals will line up later that night. But whatever the lineup is, Laviolette will want more out of his group.
“I think we gotta play better than our last three games,” Laviolette said. “We’ve got to dictate a little bit more with what we’re doing on the ice. Defensively we’ve just been okay. We’ve let up some odd man rushes, partial breakaways, and stuff like that. I just think we can be better.”
Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB
