Sunday night, the Washington Capitals clinched their third-straight Metropolitan Division title after defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1. With not much to play for beyond home ice (potentially in the Eastern Conference Final and beyond), the Capitals’ likely only goal is to avoid injury. Which is why the following play is so scary.
Monday, in the Caps’ second game of a back-to-back, Alex Ovechkin, the team’s captain and franchise leader in everything, laid on the ice in pain after falling awkwardly into the end boards.
As Ovechkin looked to check Blues forward Oskar Sundqvist, he hit a patch of bad ice and crashed feet first into the dasher boards.
Ovechkin laid face first on the ice, flexing his right leg into the air.
The angle from the Capitals goal shows that Ovechkin went into a half split before tumbling down to the ice.
Ovechkin stayed on the ice for 20 seconds before getting up and skating slowly back to the Caps bench.
But in typical Russian machine form, Ovechkin was somehow fine (steel feels no pain) and did not miss any time in the game.
Last year in the playoffs, Ovechkin struggled at times through a gnarly and nagging hamstring injury.
Ovechkin wasn’t the only Caps player to wipe out in that corner. Earlier in the first period, Devante Smith-Pelly wiped out into that same danged Enterprise sign.
Please. No body get hurt. That is your only objective.
Just forfeit the game. No more #Caps injuries, please.
— William Stilwell (@LoudGoat) April 3, 2018
