The Capitals got back to work on Wednesday after over a week off.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — If Tom Wilson could do his break over, he said he probably should have headed down to Miami with Alex Ovechkin, who was leading the pack as the Washington Capitals returned from their lengthy 4 Nations break for practice on Wednesday.
Washington was in for a high-energy, intense practice, as coach Spencer Carbery got his group back into the rhythm of things. Some of the Capitals skated informally on Tuesday, but this marked the first full organized practice for the team.
"I should have learned by now (to stick with Ovechkin during break)," Wilson joked. "We spent our break three or four years ago together and he always seems to be flying. It just shows you how much this all means to him right now... he looked great today."
Ovechkin was a force to be reckoned with, skating hard and being the example as his teammates got back into the swing of things with some skating, line work and reps.
Washington's lines stayed the same as they were at the end of their final game before the break against Utah Hockey Club, with Taylor Raddysh and Andrew Mangiapane swapping places on the bottom-6. Ovechkin stayed on the left wing.
Jakub Vrana and Sonny Milano, who remains in a non-contact jersey, were rotating in, along with Alex Alexeyev and Dylan McIlrath on defense.
Here are the combinations:
Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson
Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Aliaksei Protas
Andrew Mangiapane-Lars Eller-Ethen Frank
Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh
Rasmus Sandin-John Carlson
Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy
Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk
Logan Thompson
Charlie Lindgren
The Capitals will have two more days of practice before their first game back, a Saturday matinee against the Pittsburgh Penguins. They then return home to D.C. less than 24 hours later for another showdown with the Edmonton Oilers.