The July sun baked the metal roof of the Capitals practice facility on Monday, as the team held their first practice of training camp. Today marked the start of Phase 3 of the National Hockey League’s Return to Play plan, after being out of action for four months due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with playoffs expected to start in early August .
In less than two weeks, the Caps will travel to Toronto to play in an empty arena — about as far from the “Rock the Red” atmosphere at Capital One Arena as you can get.