Practice: Jan. 21

The Washington Capitals were on ice Monday for a practice following a day off after getting smacked around by the Lightning Saturday night, and as they prepare to meet the Jets in their home opener Tuesday.  Some updates from Kettler Capitals Iceplex:

Defenseman Jack Hillen, who took a crunching hit from Vincent Lecavalier and left the game Saturday, did not skate and was placed on injured reserve with what is believed to be a shoulder injury; he is considered week-to-week.  To replace him, rearguard Tomas Kundratek was recalled from AHL Hershey, and skated with John Erskine (Tom Poti and Jeff Schultz were partnered).  The other defensive pairs, Carlson-Alzner and Green-Hamrlik, were unchanged, and Dmitry Orlov missed another practice with his shoulder injury.

Adam Oates' forward lines were also unchanged: Ovechkin-Backstrom-Johansson, Brouwer-Ribeiro-Wolski, Chimera-Beagle-Ward, and Hendricks-Perreault-Crabb/Fehr.  Brooks Laich, still out with a groin injury, didn't even skate, and his return is starting to look further off than initially anticipated.

Harry Hawkings is a college student credentialed to cover the Capitals for RtR.  Follow him on Twitter here for all your news needs this season.