An optional practice for the Capitals on Thursday after a 2-1 win over the Islanders the night before. Washington has won three of its first four games – nothing to sneeze at in a league where a slow start to a season can lead to some wasted energy as you try to climb out an early hole.
“We want to distance ourselves from .500 as much as possible as early as possible,” said Caps forward Brooks Laich. “Last year we got off to a great start. And it means in the second half of the season – if you do have some injuries or suspensions or something goes a little bit wrong – that you already have points in the bank that you can count on. You don’t want to be scrapping in February, March and April just to get into the playoffs.”
Next up is a road game at Nashville on Saturday night. Three players who sat out the New York game with minor injuries were back at practice on Thursday morning. Forward Matt Bradley (lower-body injury) and Marcus Johansson (foot) and defenseman Tom Poti (lower-body injury) all skated. Defenseman Mike Green did not, however. Bruce Boudreau said Green suffered a “stinger” in the Islanders game and was given “a maintenance day”. But the status for all four players is still up in the air for Saturday. He’s hoping all four will be back at practice on Friday.
Goalie Dany Sabourin was at Thursday’s practice, meaning the team still wasn’t 100 percent sure at the start of the day about Semyon Varlamov for this weekend’s trip to Nashville. Boudreau did say it would “take something crazy” at Friday’s practice for Varlamov not to at least dress for the Nashville game. He’s been on injured reserve with a groin injury through the first four games. Varlamov’s status was confirmed after practice when, according to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, Sabourin was placed on waivers so he could be sent down to AHL Hershey.
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