Capitals Notebook: Kuznetsov Absent, Lines Get Tweak, Injury Updates As Team Returns From Break With Intense Practice

The Capitals had all but one skater accounted for as they returned from break.

ARLINGTON, V.A. — Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin was the first one to take the ice on Monday, leading his teammates in an intense practice that lasted nearly an hour to officially ring in the second half of the season following a lengthy All-Star Break.

Washington's skate featured a bit of everything, from rushes to drills, as players got back into the swing of things while preparing to return to game action on Tuesday against the Montreal Canadiens.

"Right now you can see everybody's fresh, everybody's happy to be back and tomorrow's going to be a great day to play hockey," Ovechkin said.

Washington's lines also got a couple of more tweaks, with Connor McMichael going to work with Max Pacioretty and T.J. Oshie while Ethan Bear remains the odd man out on the blue line.

All but one skater was accounted for, with Evgeny Kuznetsov missing from practice due to what the team is currently calling "personal reasons." An update on his situation is expected later this afternoon, but it is currently unclear how long he will be out.

With Kuznetsov absent, Washington recalled forward Michael Sgarbossa from the AHL's Hershey Bears to take his place as he centered Anthony Mantha and Aliaksei Protas.

The Capitals did get an encouraging sight at practice, though, as Max Pacioretty was a full go after leaving the team's final game in Dallas before the break with a lower-body injury. Sonny Milano remained in a non-contact jersey but was skating and in high spirits. He has missed the last 23 games and has not played since Dec. 9.

Here were the full combinations:

Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson

Max Pacioretty-Connor McMichael-T.J. Oshie

Anthony Mantha-Michael Sgarbossa-Aliaksei Protas

Beck Malenstyn-Nic Dowd-Nicolas Aube-Kubel

Matthew Phillips-Sonny Milano

Martin Fehervary-John Carlson

Rasmus Sandin-Trevor van Riemsdyk

Joel Edmundson-Nick Jensen

Alex Alexeyev-Ethan Bear

Right now, the focus for Spencer Carbery's group is on the present and short-term future, as the bench boss wants to take things one day at a time in hopes to get back into playoff territory.

"I believe in his group and I know we're going to keep fighting," Carbery said, adding, "Not a lot of margin for error, but we're going to keep fighting and giving everything we got to push the envelope here and stay in this thing."