With the Capitals trailing 3-1 in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, head coach Barry Trotz has decided to make a few changes, at least for Friday’s practice.

Friday morning Trotz moved captain Alex Ovechkin to the third line and replaced him with Andre Burakovsky on the first line.

#Caps lines:

65-19-77

90-92-14

8-20-43

26-83

Yes, that’s Ovechkin on the 3rd. — JJ Regan (@JJReganCSN) May 5, 2017

Trotz also made a few tweaks to the defensive pairings at Friday’s practice. The new pairings:

Orlov-Niskanen

Orpik-Carlson

Schmidt-Shattenkirk

Alzner-Chorney

Ovechkin admitted after Game 4 that he was struggling and did not play well in the Pittsburgh games.

The move, should it hold for Game 5 on Saturday night, may provide a more favorable matchup for Ovechkin and the Capitals. Ovechkin was asked about the line changes following Friday’s practice:

#Caps captain Alex Ovechkin talks to the media about skating on a line with Eller and Wilson today at practice. #CapsPens #RockTheRed pic.twitter.com/j46qkU1KlP — Washington Capitals (@Capitals) May 5, 2017

The move could also be beneficial to the third line, which has struggled in the playoffs, as Lars Eller has been fairly quiet in post season play.

Barry’s going to catch grief for (nominally) demoting Ovi, but be realistic about where Ovi ranks among this team’s Fs at 5v5 and… welp. — Japers’ Brink 🦅 (@JapersRink) May 5, 2017

The new line configuration reunites Ovechkin with Tom Wilson, who had a pretty good game in Game 4. Ovechkin remained on the top power play unit.

Appears Ovechkin is still on the power play, so that’s something. — Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 5, 2017

Andre Burakovsky skated extremely well in Game 4, but has yet to tally a goal in the playoffs, and has just 3 goals in 33 career post-season games.

Barry Trotz was asked about the changes following Friday’s practice.

Trotz said Ovechkin practiced on a third line because with 11F/7D, some guys could double shift and Ovechkin “is a candidate” for that. — Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) May 5, 2017

By Jon Sorensen

Follow @NoVa_Caps

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