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Alex Ovechkin returns to Capitals practice after missing game with lower-body injury

By Chris Cerullo

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January 23, 2023 3:01 pm

Alex Ovechkin was on the ice at Ball Arena in Denver for the Capitals’ Monday practice. It’s the first time that The Great Eight has skated since the Caps took down the Arizona Coyotes last Thursday.

Ovechkin did not take part in Saturday’s morning skate in Vegas and eventually missed the game against the Golden Knights with what the team termed a lower-body injury. It was the first game this season that Ovechkin has missed.

The Athletic’s Tarik El-Bashir was first on the reporting.

Ovechkin far and away leads the Capitals in both goals (30) and total points (52) in 48 games played this season. He had been on pace for 51 goals and 88 points over a full 82-game slate until missing out in Vegas.

After Saturday’s game, head coach Peter Laviolette said he was unsure if Ovechkin would play against the Avs.

“I don’t have an answer for that,” Laviolette said. “Obviously he wasn’t there tonight. There’s a couple days between games. That’s a good thing. But we’ll see how he is tomorrow and we’ll go from there.”

The Capitals were off on Sunday and had a late 1 pm MT practice on Monday.

“There are always things that are going on with players,” Laviolette said of Ovechkin. “Alex is usually really durable but this is something that… you know, he wasn’t able to skate (Saturday) morning and took him out of the lineup [against Vegas].”

The Washington Post’s Samantha Pell reports that Laviolette had Ovi skating on a four-man line with Dylan Strome, Nicolas Aube-Kubel, and Aliaksei Protas.

The Caps have just one game left on this Western Conference swing which comes against the Avs on Tuesday night. They then will make the cross-country trip home and take on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

Headline photo: Alan Dobbins/RMNB