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Ovechkin practices on third line

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The Capitals have dropped Alex Ovechkin to the third line in an effort to change things up ahead of an elimination game. Jeremy Roenick and Anson Carter have differing views on the move.

The Washington Capitals hit the ice for practice this morning, and Alex Ovechkin was on the third line.

Ovechkin, who normally plays with Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie on the Caps’ top line, was instead skating with Lars Eller and Tom Wilson.

Andre Burakovsky, who’s gone pointless in the series, replaced Ovechkin on the top line.

The second line of Marcus Johansson, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Justin Williams remained intact.

The changes came after Ovechkin admitted he did not play well in the Game 4 loss to Pittsburgh on Wednesday. He only registered two shots and was called for two minor penalties.

“Obviously, I didn’t play my game at all tonight so I think, me personally, I have to play much better,” he said.

His coach agreed.

“Our top guys didn’t step up tonight,” said Barry Trotz. “Which was unfortunate. Our top players need to play like top players. They didn’t.”

The Capitals trail the Penguins, 3-1.

Game 5 goes tomorrow at Verizon Center.

Read more: Three Capitals stats that explain their predicament