The Washington Capitals held practice on Tuesday morning after taking care of the Calgary Flames on home ice in a shootout victory on Monday night. Not with the team when they took the ice were three important names.
Number one defenseman John Carlson, checking-line center Nic Dowd, and backup goaltender Charlie Lindgren all were not present. Lindgren is the only one of the three that did not feature in the win against the Flames.
The team says that Carlson and Dowd were missing for maintenance days, per Monumental Sports Network’s Tarik El-Bashir. The 33-year-old Carlson skated a game-high 29:25 of ice time against Calgary, over five minutes more than the nearest Capitals skater.
Last season, Carlson did not have a single game where he skated even 28 minutes. The veteran blueliner is the only defender on the team to have recorded a point in the first two games of the season, grabbing an assist on Connor McMichael’s goal.
Dowd played 15:06 of ice time against the Flames, a sizable 5:37 portion of those minutes coming with the Capitals down a man. The defensively dependable pivot was part of two very important, late penalty kills that got the team to overtime and eventually the winning shootout.
The 33-year-old Alabama native, underwent surgery on his core during the offseason. Dowd was healthy for the start of the regular season but said during Training Camp that he anticipates still needing to do regular upkeep on the problem.
“Looking every day to build on the last one and not have any setbacks,” Dowd said. “I think a lot of maintenance, a lot of rehab, a lot of warming up skating getting ready before practice. Stuff like that is probably going to follow me now for the rest of my career. Just how it works as you get a little older. It’s a tough game, so it’s kind of to be expected. I’ve been fortunate so far.”
Lindgren is the only one of the three to officially be labeled out with an injury. The Capitals say their regular backup netminder has an upper-body injury after he left Monday’s morning skate just minutes into it starting.
Clay Stevenson was recalled from Hershey to backup Darcy Kuemper on Monday and Stevenson was still on the ice for practice on Tuesday. The team has announced that Lindgren will be out day-to-day and not travel on the upcoming road trip.
To fit Stevenson on their active roster, the Capitals placed defenseman Joel Edmundson on long-term injured reserve.
Per NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti, Edmundson skated on Tuesday in a light blue, non-contact jersey. If the rugged rearguard was placed on LTIR retroactive to the first game of the season, he’ll be eligible to return — at the soonest — on November 8 at home against the Florida Panthers.
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
