Ovechkin Joins Capitals For Practice ARLINGTON, V.A. — After back-to-back losses on the road, the Washington Capitals saw coach Spencer Carbery shake things up at an intense practice on Thursday. Carbery made tweaks to the forward lines and defense pairings as the group got to work in intense battle drills in the first part of the skate. Andrew Mangiapane was promoted to the top trio, while Taylor Raddysh took his place on the third line. Hendrix Lapierre was the placeholder for Lars Eller [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/features/washington-capitals-lars-eller-return-dc-excitement], who did not practice as he took a maintenance day. On defense, Rasmus Sandin moved up to work with John Carlson, while Martin Fehervary went to play with Matt Roy on the second pairing. Here were the combinations: Andrew Mangiapane-Dylan Strome-Tom Wilson Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Aliaksei Protas Jakub Vrana-Hendrix Lapierre-Taylor Raddysh Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Ivan Miroshnichenko Rasmus Sandin-John Carlson Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy Charlie Lindgren Logan Thompson Washington also worked on special teams in the second half of practice amid recent struggles on the power play. On a positive note, captain Alex Ovechkin [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-alex-ovechkin-update-return-soon] again joined the group for practice as he continues to recover from a broken leg, marking the first non-morning skate he's joined the team for. The 39-year-old remained in a non-contact jersey and did more skills work with Kenny McCudden, but he continues to make strides and take positive steps in the right direction. After a few practices with full contact and multiple reps, the Capitals will then see if Ovechkin is ready to return to the lineup. The Capitals will be back in action on Friday when they play host to the Carolina Hurricanes, followed by a showdown with the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday. It's unclear when Ovechkin will upgrade to contact, but considering he'll need a handful of contact practices before he plays, it doesn't seem likely he'll play in either of those games.
