Ovechkin is in phase 2 for the first time with capital

Alex Ovechkin ran on Saturday with the Washington Capitals.

The striker had skated and trained in Florida before joining his teammates at MedStar Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Virginia. This was part of phase 2 of the NHL Return to Play plan, which started on June 8th and enabled limited voluntary workouts with small groups in team facilities.

The capitals tweeted a video of Ovechkin on the ice. Strikers joined him Lars Eller, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Garnet hathawaydefender John Carlsonand goalkeeper Braden Holtby.

Tweet from @Capitals: He is back. @ ovi8 #ALLCAPS | @devourfoods pic.twitter.com/ba3Ow3jDz1

Ovechkin bound David Pastrnak the Boston Bruins with 48 goals lead the NHL and win the Rocket Richard Trophy for the ninth time.

Washington is one of 24 teams to compete for the Stanley Cup. The tournament begins with the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, which include the capitals as part of a round robin among the four best teams at each conference to determine the requirements for the Stanley Cup playoffs, as well as 16 teams in eight best-of -5 series are paired. Dates and the two capitals – one for the 12 participating Eastern Conferce teams, one for the 12 Western Conference teams – have not been announced.

The capitals each play the Bruins, Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers once.

Ovechkin trained with his personal trainer Pavel Burlachenko, who arrived from Russia shortly before the NHL break on March 12 because of concerns about the corona virus. Ovechkin ran an ice rink in Pembroke Pines, Florida this month with a group of players including the New York Rangers’ rookie goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin, Colorado Avalanche defender Nikita Zadorovand Florida Panthers forward Evgenii Dadonov.

“He sounds really good and excited to get back on his feet and likes the chances our team has and knows that it will obviously be very unpredictable,” said Capitals coach Todd Reirden on June 15 about Ovechkin NHL something like that. He is in a really good place mentally and physically and I really think we are lucky that his coach, whom I think a lot, Pavel, can spend the whole time with him. “

NHL employee Tom Gulitti contributed to this report

Photo courtesy of Washington Capitals