Capitals Practice Recap

The team seemed to be in good spirits today, as expected following a key victory the night before in Raleigh. Here are some of the highlights from the practice today at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex:

• Alexander Semin, Donald Brashear, and Brian Pothier all missed practice today. When asked Capitals coach Dean Evason was unsure why and said it could be for a number of reasons. I asked Danius Zubrus as well if he knew of any reason and he shrugged his shoulders. So hopefully this means it is no big deal.
• Richard Zednik took Semin's spot on the second line and looked as though he was practicing at full speed. When asked if there was any chance he would play in tomorrow's game Zednik said, "No". But look for him to be back in the lineup after the All-Star break.
  
• During 2 on 1 drills Boyd Gordon provided the highlight of the day scoring on an excellent backhand move around goaltender Brent Johnson. The play drew applause from Alex Ovechkin who pounded his stick against the boards in approval.
• A good portion of the practice focused on their defensive structure as coach Glen Hanlon's main focus that he was stressing to his players was to keep the opposition to the outside as they exit their own zone.
• The team had a shootout competition where Jeff Schultz put on a show going 3 for 3 before being stopped on his last attempt which was the championship round with Jakub Klepis. Klepis scored on his attempt past Johnson for the win. Ovechkin missed on both of his attempts.
• Mike Green came out at the end of practice and was skating around gingerly without pads. You could tell that he was trying to put pressure on his left leg, but looked very uncomfortable in doing so. He was skating for about 5 minutes before noticeably limping back to the locker room.