TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ M2 D3
BY SAMANTHA PELLWashington Capitals center
Lars Eller has skated the same
way for the past 25 years. He has
used the same mechanics he has
employed during hours and hours
of practice since he was little. But
during the offseason, Eller decid-
ed to change his technique.
Eller has worked with three
skating coaches over the past four
to five years, incorporating bits
and pieces from each into his
game. This past summer, he
worked with local skating coach
Wendy Marco to make more sig-
nificant adjustments.
The 30-year-old wanted to get
his upper body more in sync with
his lower body to build up his
speed. With a focus on his arms,
he worked on his alignment, bal-
ance and point of gravity to move
better on the ice. With the Capi-
tals’ new system so reliant on
skating, Eller wanted to be pre-
pared, but trying to change me-
chanics he had established
naturally over time is difficult.
“When you’ve skated a certain
way for 25 years and you try to
change your mechanics in five or
six sessions, five or six hours,
when you spend 10,000 hours
doing something else, then it’s
hard,” Eller said. “You have to
think about other things on the
ice, too.”
Eller said the tweaks probably
aren’t noticeable on television,
but he constantly reminds him-
self of the adjustments while he is
on the ice. More often than not,
he’ll look at video of the previous
game to see where he can improve
his skating. He did a lot of video
work in the offseason with Marco
to identify the ways he could
improve his stride, explosiveness
and speed.
Eller, who is in his 11th NHL
season, is basically trying to teach
himself how to walk again — but
in hockey form.
“So far it doesn’t hurt me to
think about it,” Eller said. “Some-
times I just watch clips after[games] in case I see, ‘Here, okay, I
can do a better job of getting my
upper body involved there, the
separation.’... So, yeah, it’s very
technical.”
Eller’s work ethic and attention
to detail, both with outside coach-
es and Capitals skills coach
Dwayne Blais, made Coach Todd
Reirden confident the center
would have a strong season.
“He puts the work in and con-
tinues to be the perfect guy for us
in that third [line],” Reirden said
of Eller. “And, you know, when
things don’t go well, we move him
up, and that is a luxury I definitely
have.”
Through 16 games, Eller has 11
points — five goals and six assists.
Last month, he assisted on the
winning goals in back-to-back
games — against Chicago and
Calgary — to open a five-game
road trip. Showing his ability to
be a utility player, he also filled in
for Evgeny Kuznetsov on the sec-
ond line while the center was
serving a three-game suspensionto start the season.
“I’m in a good spot in my ca-
reer,” said Eller, who is in his
fourth season with Washington.
“Todd has a good amount of faith
in me and puts me out in key
situations where we have to de-
fend the lead. Or, you know, I get
power-play time, and I move up
when other guys are injured. So
I’m just in a good spot for me. And
I enjoy playing for this team and
with these players around me, so
it’s a good fit for me.”
Eller had 13 goals and 23 assists
in 81 games last season. When the
team won the Stanley Cup in 2018,
he had a career-high 18 goals to go
with 20 assists in 81 games. Eller
said he thinks he can improve his
goal total this season but doesn’t
want to put a number on it. So far,
he has focused on team results,
which have been positive with the
Capitals 8-0-1 over their past nine
games to improve to 11-2-3 over-
all.
“I think I had all the chances to
score, you know, to score moregoals and score more than I did,”
Eller said of his production last
season. “That is the number one
thing. Are you creating enough
scoring chances to score goals?
And I think I did that. It was just a
matter of capitalizing off my
chances, and I think I could have
done a better job of that last year.
And so, you know, I think I can
score more.”
[email protected]Striving to improve, Capitals’ Eller learned to skate again at 30
CAPITALS’ NEXT THREEat Florida PanthersThursday 7 NBCSWvs. Vegas Golden Knights
Saturday 7 NBCSWvs. Arizona Coyotes
Monday 7 NBCSW,
NBCSNRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM),
WFED (1500 AM)FROM NEWS SERVICESPhiladelphia Eagles wide re-
ceiver DeSean Jackson will have
surgery to correct a core muscle
injury Tuesday morning.
A timetable for Jackson’s return
hasn’t been set, but even if he were
to be available this season, it might
not be until the playoffs, if the
Eagles advance that far, according
to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Re-
covery from core muscle surgery
can take up to or longer than two
months, depending on the pa-
tient.
Jackson suffered what the
Eagles initially labeled a groin in-
jury early in their Week 2 loss to
the Falcons.
The team later termed it an
abdomen injury. Jackson missed
the next six games as he recovered.
He practiced last week for the first
time since the injury, but only on a
limited basis.
“Following the game in Atlanta,
DeSean met with the Eagles and
multiple independent specialists
to determine the best course of
action,” the Eagles said in a state-
ment. “After gathering all the nec-
essary information, the decision
was made to proceed non-opera-
tively through rehabilitation.
DeSean worked hard for six weeks
to progress to a point where all
parties were comfortable with
him returning to practice.”
The Eagles listed him as ques-
tionable on the injury report, and
he dressed for Sunday’s game
against the Bears. But Jackson,
who caught one pass for five yards,
lasted only four snaps. Eagles
Coach Doug Pederson said his re-
ceiver had felt discomfort and was
held out for precautionary rea-
sons.
BROWNS: Jermaine White-
head’s disturbing social media
rant cost him his job.
The Browns cut the safety Mon-
day, hours after the team repri-
manded Whitehead for “totally
unacceptable and highly inappro-
priate” posts following a 24-19 loss
to the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Whitehead made several
threatening and expletive-laden
posts on Twitter while still in uni-
form following Cleveland’s fourth
straight loss.
One of Whitehead’s tweets was
directed at Dustin Fox, a former
NFL player who works for the
team’s radio network. Fox had sent
an earlier tweet criticizing White-
head’s tackling.
Twitter suspended Whitehead’s
account, and the team released a
statement after it became aware of
his postings.
Whitehead’s tweets included
several expletives, and in one he
used a derogatory racial term.
COLTS: Quarterback Jacoby
Brissett has a sprained left knee
but has not been ruled out of Sun-
day’s game against Miami.
He was injured during the first
half of Sunday’s loss to Pittsburgh
when left guard Quenton Nelson
fell into Brissett’s leg. He stood on
the sideline with what appeared to
be a brace protecting his leg and
did not return to the game.
JETS: Le’Veon Bell had an
MRI exam on one of his knees, and
the team was awaiting the results
to see if the star running back will
need to miss any time.
Coach Adam Gase said he was
unsure when Bell was injured dur-
ing New York’s 26-18 loss at Miami
on Sunday. Gase said he learned of
it Monday morning when Bell had
to miss team meetings to undergo
the tests.
DOLPHINS: Rookie wide re-
ceiver Preston Williams will miss
the final eight games of the season
with a knee injury suffered in Mi-
ami’s first win of the year against
the Jets. The undrafted free agent
has 32 receptions, which leads the
Dolphins and is tied for the most
among rookie wideouts in the
NFL.
Running back Mark Walton
was suspended without pay for the
next four games for violating NFL
conduct and substance abuse poli-
cies.
COURTS: Former NFL player
Kellen Winslow Jr. pleaded guilty
to raping an unconscious teen and
to sexual battery involving a
54-year-old hitchhiker in a deal
that spared him the possibility of
life in prison.
Winslow asked the judge for
more time before he finally en-
tered the guilty pleas moments
before he was about to be retried
on six felonies including kidnap-
ping, sodomy, forced oral copula-
tion and two charges of forcible
rape in San Diego County Superior
Court that could have sent him to
prison for life if he was convicted.
In exchange for his plea, the
court agreed to sentence him to
between 12 and 18 years in prison
for the two charges and dismiss
the others.NFL NOTESEagles WR
Jackson faces
surgery on
core muscle
Nashville, and Kyle Turris and
Colton Sissons contributed a goal
apiece. The first four goals by the
Predators came in a span of 5:36,
and Detroit goalie Jimmy How-
ard was pulled after the fourth.
Filip Forsberg added a goal for
Nashville in the third.
Andreas Athanasiou scored for
the Red Wings, who are 1-10-1 in
their past 12 games.
COYOTES 3, OILERS 2
(OT): Derek Stepan scored the
winner to lead Arizona (9-4-1) to a
road win over Pacific Division-
leading Edmonton (10-4-2).New York (5-6-1) for its first road
win.
Tyler Ennis, Ron Hainsey,
Brady Tkachuk and former Rang-
ers forward Vladislav Namestnik-
ov also scored for the Senators.
Ottawa snapped the Rangers’
two-game winning streak.
PREDATORS 6, RED
WINGS 1: Nick Bonino scored
the first of Nashville’s five second-
period goals as the Predators (9-
4-2) easily dispatched Detroit (4-
11-1).
Matt Duchene scored the last
two goals of the middle period forthe period, scoring four times to
take the lead. Players on Pitts-
burgh’s bench were jumping up
and down when Marino scored in
the final seconds of the period to
cap the comeback, and frustrated
Bruins goalie Jaroslav Halak
smashed his stick off the crossbar
into a couple of pieces.
Marino grew up about 45 min-
utes away in Easton, Mass., and
attended Harvard.
SENATORS 6, RANGERS 2:
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored twice
and Anders Nilsson stopped 32
shots as Ottawa (4-8-1) routedstraight. Marchand added three
assists, extending his point streak
to 13 games.
Dominik Kahun, Nick Bjug-
stad, Bryan Rust and John Mari-
no scored for Pittsburgh. Marino’s
tally was his first career NHL goal.
The Bruins had opened a 3-0
lead on Pastrnak’s team-leading
14th goal 4:22 into the second
period when Pittsburgh Coach
Mike Sullivan decided to pull
starting goalie Matt Murray in
favor of backup Tristan Jarry.
The Penguins (8-6-1) outshot
Boston 15-4 over the remainder ofASSOCIATED PRESSBrad Marchand scored his sec-
ond goal of the game with 1:57 left,
and the Boston Bruins beat the
visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, 6-4,
on Monday night after blowing a
3-0 lead.
David Pastrnak, Jake DeBrusk
and Torey Krug also scored for
Boston (11-1-2), which has won six
NHL ROUNDUP
Marchand carries Boston, extends his point streak to 13 games
BRUINS 6,
PENGUINS 4“miracle season and an unforget-
table postseason.” He said the
team “unified a region when the
region needed unifying the most.
Bumpy roads lead to beautiful
places, and this here is a beautiful
place.” Trump and first lady Mela-
nia Trump applauded.
The players exhibited some of
the loose, carefree spirit that de-
fined their season. Infielder How-
ie Kendrick stepped to the lectern
to pretend he was going to speak
before Trump came out, drawing
chants of “How-ie!” from the
crowd. After Strasburg spoke, the
crowd chanted “four more years!”
— a reference to their hopes that
the pitcher, now a free agent,
re-signs with the team.
“I’m going to consider that four
more World Series titles,” Trump
joked.
But it was Suzuki, who is
Japanese-American, who pro-
duced perhaps the most memora-
ble image, donning the hat and
raising his arms in triumph.
“It was amazing. That was the
president. Just trying to have
some fun,” Suzuki told USA Today
Sports via text message. “Every-
body makes everything political.
It was about our team winning the
World Series.”
Trump, whose presence
prompted chants of “Lock him
up!” from the home crowd at
Game 5, beamed. “I didn’t know
that was going to happen,” the
president said.
[email protected]
[email protected]Sam Fortier and Cindy Boren
contributed to this report.felt their status — or lack of status
— made it so they felt compelled
to attend with their teammates.
Three players felt that the quick
turnaround made it hard for play-
ers to decline the invitation with-
out making a political statement,
people close to the players said.
Team owner Mark Lerner, Gen-
eral Manager Mike Rizzo and
Manager Dave Martinez were in
attendance, and Rizzo and Marti-
nez made brief remarks.
Rizzo called the Nats’ cam-
paign, during which they re-
bounded from a 19-31 start, aRendon, Guerra and Barrera are
Mexican American.
Taylor and Ross are African
American.
Guerra said he was not there
because he and his fiancee, Alli-
son, are preparing for their wed-
ding in Mexico this weekend. A
person close to Robles said the
22-year-old outfielder already
had travel booked to return home
Sunday.
A handful of players wrestled
with the decision to attend in
recent days, and some did skip the
visit for political reasons. Othersthe decision to attend with play-
ers, according to two people with
knowledge of the situation. Play-
ers were only asked whether they
planned to attend or not.
Tres Barrera, Raudy Read,
Roenis Elías and Wilmer Difo —
who were on the Nationals’
40-man roster but were not active
for the World Series — also were
not in attendance.
Several of the players who
skipped the event are Latin Amer-
ican. Robles, Difo and Read were
born in the Dominican Republic;
Elías was born in Cuba; andinterviews following the ceremo-
ny.
Their absence appeared to
mark the latest example of the
highly politicized nature of such
sports ceremonies during
Trump’s tenure. Several teams
have declined to visit the White
House, and others, including the
2018 World Series-winning Bos-
ton Red Sox, have been sharply
divided. Most of Boston’s minority
players opted out during a cere-
mony in the spring.
Trump was upbeat in praising
the Nationals, calling the size of
the crowd that included players’
families and White House staffers
a record for South Lawn sports
ceremonies. He marveled that
“Baby Shark,” the preschooler dit-
ty that became the unofficial team
anthem, was a “very powerful lit-
tle tune” — and a military band
played a live version as the players
led the crowd in mimicking a
shark chomp with their hands.
Many in the crowd donned Na-
tionals jersey and hats, and the
White House draped metal gates
in red bunting that matched the
team colors. The Commissioner’s
Trophy was on a small table next
to the balcony’s arm rail.
“America fell in love with Nats
baseball. That’s all they wanted to
talk about,” Trump said, adding
after a beat: “That and impeach-
ment. I like Nats baseball much
more.”
The remark drew a laugh from
the crowd.
Trump did not allude to Doolit-
tle or the other players who were
absent. As he recited some of the
heroic moments of the Nationals’
World Series run, Trump invited
players, including Suzuki; pitch-
ers Max Scherzer, Stephen Stras-
burg and Patrick Corbin; first
baseman Ryan Zimmerman; and
outfielder Juan Soto to the lectern
to make remarks.
Zimmerman, who presented
Trump with a Nationals jersey
bearing his name and No. 45,
praised Trump’s leadership. He
called the visit an “unbelievable
honor” and said the team would
“like to thank you for keeping
everyone here safe in our country
and continuing to make America
the greatest country to live in in
the world.”
Zimmerman and Suzuki drew
blowback online from Trump’s
critics, but they also garnered
high-profile support. “That’s awe-
some and he’s right,” Donald
Trump Jr. tweeted in reaction to
Zimmerman’s praise of Trump.
One of President Trump’s reelec-
tion campaign Twitter accounts
tweeted a video clip of Zimmer-
man’s remarks.
Charlotte Clymer, a press secre-
tary for the Human Rights Cam-
paign who had praised Doolittle
last week for snubbing Trump,
called Suzuki’s action “pretty
heartbreaking to see.”
The Nationals did not discuss
NATIONALS FROM D1
Trump embraces champion Nats at White House
PHOTOS BY TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST
Nationals first baseman Ryan Zimmerman, top photo, presents President Trump with a No. 45 jersey
at a ceremony before a crowd of more than 1,000 on the South Lawn of the White House on Monday.