The results didn’t show on Tuesday against Montreal. They only hope it pays dividends on Friday night against Tampa Bay. But the Caps put together a pretty intense bout of practices at Kettler Iceplex this week, starting with a long one on Monday night.
Wednesday’s practice featured lots of shooting and skating. And Bruce Boudreau conducted two long video sessions before the players even took the ice late at about 10:45 a.m. this morning. Even Thursday’s practice featured a little more work than a normal travel day with Boudreau on the ice the entire time. We’ll see if that post-All-Star break work pays off.
“Especially after the break where I didn’t think we had good legs against Montreal,” Boudreau said. “I thought yesterday’s practice was fairly difficult and today’s was a good upbeat practice. And we had two real long video sessions, which is really not as normal as what we normally do. But I think we were in there for 45 minutes today watching video. Hopefully we’re getting it.”
Both goalies – Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov – were on the ice today. Alex Semin made it through yet another practice in tact. But Boudreau said as of noon he still didn’t know if Semin would be on the trip. Groin injuries are tricky. You can feel fine in practice, but suffer a setback once playing at game speed again. This seems to happen to Tom Poti every few weeks.
Boudreau put Jason Chimera back on the top line on Thursday. Mike Knuble skated on the third line. The Caps have lost two in a row to Tampa Bay after winning the first two meetings by a combined score of 9-3. But that was back in November. The two teams have moved in opposite directions since then.
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