ARLINGTON, Va. — We’ve seen it plenty of times: Ovechkin sitting next to Carlson on the Washington Capitals’ bench.
On Sunday, though, the specifics were different. Smaller bodies. Less gray hair. Indeed, it was Lucca Carlson and Sergei Ovechkin, in full gear, watching the Caps practice. Their fathers are NHL players of some renown, and they’ve got a Stanley Cup playoff series against the Montreal Canadiens that starts on Monday.
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The kids — Lucca is nine years old, Sergei is seven — had plenty of company. Coach Spencer Carbery suggested that the players bring their families to work, and plenty of them took him up on the offer. There might have been 20 lil’ Capitals milling around, including Ovechkin’s younger son, Ilya.
“I think we might lead the league in children,” defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk said.
Greetings from Caps practice, where Alex Ovechkin has some new linemates. pic.twitter.com/0MHmdCyFJ0
— Sean Gentille (@seangentille) April 20, 2025
The fact that it was Easter Sunday played a part in Carbery’s call.
“You can be an extremely intense competitor, an extremely hard worker, someone that takes your craft extremely seriously,” he said. “You also can be a great family man.
“We want players to feel as, yeah, we’re the ultimate competitors when the puck drops … and when we have opportunities to spend time with our family and enjoy our time at the rink and let them be a part of it, we take advantage of those.”
It’s the latest (and possibly final) bit of proof that nobody in the mix for Washington is overreacting to a down-the-stretch wobble that saw them lose eight of their last 12 games. Did they let their foot off the gas a bit, even with the Eastern Conference’s top seed long in the bag? Maybe. Was there a hangover after Ovechkin’s historic goal chase? Could’ve been.
Most importantly, though, does any of that matter? The Caps have spent several days getting reworded versions of that particular question, and the substance of their answers hasn’t changed: Nope.
“Playoffs are different than the regular season, you know?” Pierre-Luc Dubois told reporters on Saturday. “We can have a meeting and pretend we’re as desperate as a team trying to struggle their way in. The reality is it’s not the same thing. You can pretend all you want, but it’s not.”
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That’s correct, by the way. If the Caps lose in the playoffs, it’ll be because they lost in the playoffs, not due to the residual effects of getting beat back-to-back by the Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this month, or snoozing through their regular-season finale against Pittsburgh. The premise is flawed in the first place — because on balance, in a lot of important ways, the Caps didn’t play poorly. Their expected goal share at five-on-five, for one, was better in their final 12 games (54.6) than in their first 70 (51.5).
Goaltending counts, of course, and Logan Thompson, Charlie Lindgren, Hunter Shepard and Clay Stevenson combined for the worst save percentage in the NHL from March 24 onward. Finishing ability counts, too, and the Caps, in those games, couldn’t hit water from a boat. Their five-on-five team shooting percentage was under 6, second-lowest in the league. It happens.
And hey, maybe the shooters stay frozen. Maybe the goaltending stays in the tank. Correlation, though, isn’t going to be causation — and effort, Carbery said, isn’t going to be an issue.
“We probably don’t have the most high-end skilled team, but we’ve got a group of guys that compete their butts off on a daily basis,” Carbery said. “They want to win, they’re detailed and that’s why we’ve been able to accomplish (what we did) in the regular season. That means nothing going into a series in the playoffs, so it’s our job to bring that same intensity and that same fire that we brought in the regular season.”
Regarding the goaltending, Thompson, who chased three months of Vezina Trophy-caliber play with 15 games at .877, practiced fully for a second consecutive day. He hasn’t played since April 2 due to an upper-body injury, but it seems he could return on Monday night. Carbery was asked for his plan and, shockingly, opted not to share it.
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Rough as Thompson was from Feb. 1 on, he’s Washington’s best option. Lindgren, in six games after Thompson’s injury, had an .882 save percentage and allowed 0.5 goals above expected.
Winger Aliaksei Protas, meanwhile, skated briefly by himself before practice in a non-contact jersey. That’s a bit of progress for Protas, who hasn’t played since a skate cut his foot on April 4. He had one of the biggest breakouts of the season league-wide, scoring 30 goals and driving play in the top six.
Defenseman Martin Fehervary was absent for the second straight day; he appeared to twist his ankle against the New York Islanders earlier in the week and missed Game 82 in Pittsburgh. If he can’t play, Alexander Alexeyev, again, is the likely replacement. He practiced on a pair with van Riemsdyk and would be playing in just his ninth game this season.
“I’ve done it before in my career where you’re not playing for long stretches,” van Riemsdyk said. “He does a good job of staying ready and when he comes in there, not just rimming pucks and dumping them in every chance.”
Rookie Ryan Leonard got some quality time on the bench with the kids. He used it to check Sergei Ovechkin’s stick curve.
“Exactly like (Alex Ovechkin’s),” Leonard said. “Of course it was.”
It was pointed out a few times that Leonard, 20, is closer in age to some of the kids than their dads.
“Maybe (1-year-old Teddy Wilson and Leonard) will be linemates one day,” Tom Wilson said. “He’ll be the wily veteran by that point and he can look out for him as a rookie.”
(Photo of Alex Ovechkin: Justin Berl / Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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