Photo: Jeff Vinnick

The Capitals announced Wednesday morning that Alex Ovechkin has sustained an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. There is no word yet on how he suffered the injury. Ovechkin’s three shots on goal against the Canucks on Monday was his lowest total of the season, perhaps hinting that he was hurt before or during that game.

While Washington does not play again until Friday in Philadelphia, any injury to the team’s (and world’s) best scorer is a very big deal.

Alex Ovechkin is second in the league in goals with 10. Alex Steen is red hot in St. Louis right now.

The Capitals have scored 32 goals in total, so Alex Ovechkin’s 10 represents 31% of the offence.

If you count assists, Alex Ovechkin has had his hands in 47% of the Washington’s goals.

The Caps power play depends on Alex Ovechkin, who has attempted a league-high 38 shots during 5v4 play.

Alex Ovechkin is the Caps offense. Overall, he has attempted almost two times more shots than any the next Capitals player (Mike Green).

Alex Ovechkin had been on pace to take 512 shots this season, which would be the third highest ever– behind Phil Esposito and himself in 08-09.

Per NBC’s Adam Vingan, the Capitals lines currently look like this:

Martin Erat – Nicklas Backstrom – Eric Fehr

Marcus Johansson – Brooks Laich – Troy Brouwer

Jason Chimera – Mikhail Grabovski – Joel Ward

Aaron Volpatti – Michael Latta – Tom Wilson

Imagine the terror in the Flyers locker room right now when they see the fearsome Johansson-Laich-Brouwer line.

Today is Wednesday. There are about 55 hours until the puck drops in Philadelphia. It’d be real nice if Alex Ovechkin is healthy to play. Without him, Washington isn’t much of a team.