One notable absence from Capitals’ practice at Kettler Iceplex on Wednesday morning: Alex Ovechkin. Instead, Matt Hendricks was sporting the red practice jersey and skating with Nicklas Backstrom and Troy Brouwer on the top line. Everyone else was on the ice save the injured Jay Beagle. So tough to call this an “optional” practice. All seven defensemen, including John Erskine, practiced.
“With [Ovechkin] he’s got some bumps and bruises right now,” according to Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “So it was more of a maintenance day. We have two more games this week. We just told him to take it off and get some stretching done.”
Boudreau said those “bumps and bruises” had nothing to do with the slash Ovechkin took on the right hand during the third period of a game against Tampa Bay on Oct. 10.
Ovechkin played just 17 minutes, 35 seconds on Tuesday against the Florida Panthers. But he took 22 shifts and didn’t leave the ice for good until 2:03 left to play. The top line never returned. Didn’t see Ovechkin leave for medical attention at any point during the contest. Backstrom took 21 shifts overall and Brouwer 22.
“We’re trying to roll four lines plus there’s been a lot less penalties,” Boudreau said. “If we had seven power plays yesterday I’m sure he would have had 22, 23 minutes of ice time. But we didn’t. We had one. So in those occasions – especially when we’re into a matching lineup situation – you look at [the third line] instead of getting 13 minutes they’re getting 17 minutes. So they’re minutes are coming up and Alex’s lines minutes are going down. But in the long run I think that’s definitely beneficial to us.”
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