Washington Capitals Practice Notes: Connor McMichael in for Hendrix Lapierre and more

The Washington Capitals held a practice on Monday at MedStar Capitals Iceplex. There was some speculation about Hendrix Lapierre from the lack of ice time the other night, some suspicion that Connor McMichael could get a look the next game. That’s exactly what those that were there saw.

Lapierre made a splash in his first game. He got the rookie treatment at warmups taking solo laps around the ice before the rest of the team came out. Lapierre centered the third line between Conor Sheary and T.J. Oshie and had 10:14 minutes of ice time on opening night, skating in 14 shifts and scoring a goal.

In the second game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Lapierre skated only 9:51 equaling 12 shifts. He did block a shot despite not getting any shots. At Monday’s practice it was McMichael centering the third line which means we will likely see him make his season debut tomorrow night against the Colorado Avalanche.

Here were what the lines were from practice, per Samantha Pell of The Washington Post:

Ovechkin-Kuznetsov-Wilson
Mantha-Eller-Sprong
Sheary-McMichael-Oshie
Hagelin-Dowd-Hathaway

Fehervary-Carlson
Orlov-Jensen
TvR-Schultz

Here are the power play units:

First unit: Ovechkin, Carlson, Kuznetsov, Oshie, Mantha

Second unit: Orlov, Schultz, Wilson, Eller, Sprong (Sprong in for Lapierre)

While all signs point to McMichael in the lineup tomorrow, head coach Peter Laviolette wouldn’t quite confirm it yet to the media. No lineup decisions have been made. He also said the team wants to get a look at both young players. He also gave an update on Nicklas Backstrom (hip) saying he is in the “beginning” of the process to return. He’s skated on his own before practices.

No lineup decisions have been made but don’t be surprised to see Vitek Vanecek get his third start in a row. My friend Tarik El-Bashir from The Athletic asked Laviolette when Ilya Samsonov will get a game in. Here’s what he said, which is kind of interesting:

"“At some point we’re going to put Sammy in. As far as the goaltending, we’re looking for great goaltending. And I think we’ve gotten that.”"

Take that for what you will but it looks like Vanecek has won the coaching staff over and has the potential to have a really big year.

In other news, Alex Ovechkin has won the NHL’s second star of the week for his three goal performance through two games as he continues to climb up the goal scoring ladder.