ARLINGTON, VA — After extending their win streak to four games against the New Jersey Devils, the Washington Capitals had some much-needed rest before returning to MedStar Capitals Iceplex Monday morning. The Caps saw several of their injured players get back on the ice ahead of practice: in addition to Alex Ovechkin, who skated for the first time since fracturing his fibula, Sonny Milano hit the ice as he continues to recover from an upper-body injury.
Milano has been out for a dozen games after sustaining an injury November 6 against the Nashville Predators. The Capitals initially labeled him out week-to-week before putting him on long-term injured reserve on November 20. Head coach Spencer Carbery didn’t have an update on Milano’s timeline, but suggested it would be a while before he’s ready to return.
“Just another positive step,” Carbery said of Milano’s pre-practice skate. “But a long way to go for him to get back into the lineup, but good to see him at least out on the ice.”
Since Milano has already missed more than 10 games and 24 days, he is eligible to come off of LTIR as soon as he is healthy enough to play.
Several other players, meanwhile, sat out of practice after Ovechkin and Milano got off the ice. Dylan Strome, John Carlson, Nic Dowd, and Brandon Duhaime all took a maintenance day Monday, per the team. Their absences come after a busy stretch where the Caps played four games in six days, including three road games. Strome took two high sticks to the face over that span — something Carbery joked would “postpone his modeling career for a month” — while Duhaime has taken multiple maintenance days over the last month.
Before facing the New Jersey Devils Saturday, Spencer Carbery noted that the team was “working through some things” and would dress extra players for warmups, though he ended up icing the same roster as the night before. He told reporters Monday that all four players out for maintenance should be good to go against the San Jose Sharks Tuesday.
“I don’t think so,” he said when asked if he was concerned about the players’ availability. “Just a hard stretch of a lot of games, so just another day for them to rest and recuperate.”
Carbery later touched on strategy when recounting the play that saw Anthony Cirelli high-stick Dylan Strome before appearing to score: the goal was waved off because the whistle had blown — and almost certainly would have been ruled offside even without the penalty — but Cirelli still went to the box, allowing Tom Wilson to score the game-winning goal. Carbery spoke on the Caps’ own strategy when officials miss an offside call.
“We can take goals off the board, but if you take a penalty, if you do something in the zone on an offside, it still counts,” he said. “So whenever we see something offside and we’re in the zone on an entry and it’s offside, [Caps assistant coach] Scotty Allen will be yelling ‘No penalties’… So in that situation, we know it’s offside. So we’re telling our defensive players, ‘Don’t take a penalty.’
“Because even if they score, it’s coming back and the only negative thing that can happen to us in that shift is a penalty. So we’re like — and it actually sort of helped us because the second one guy hears ‘Don’t take a penalty,” they know it’s offside. Now, they obviously don’t want to just give him a breakaway and leave it to the challenge, but it is interesting.”
Washington will have its last home game for over a week Tuesday night, facing the San Jose Sharks and 2024 first-overall pick Macklin Celebrini. After playing a home-and-home back-to-back against the Seattle Kraken this weekend, the Sharks have already made the trek to DC, skating at MedStar Capitals Iceplex shortly after the Capitals’ practice concluded.
The Sharks, coached by Carbery’s longtime friend and former assistant coach Ryan Warsofsky, started the year on a nine-game losing streak but have since improved, putting up a 9-6-3 record since snapping the streak in late October. Despite ranking 28th in the NHL, Carbery doesn’t plan to underestimate what the Sharks can do.
“[They] compete their butts off, continue to get better,” he said. And you just know you’re going to get a really, really hardworking, competitive team tomorrow night.”
