Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin appears to have avoided serious injury.
The morning after Ovechkin slammed hard into the Capital One Arena end boards, the Capitals are saying Ovechkin is out “day-to-day.”
#Caps captain Alex Ovechkin sustained an upper-body injury on Sunday versus Toronto and is listed as day-to-day.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) April 25, 2022
Ovechkin missed the decisive shootout, overtime, and the final 17:57 of the game after being tripped by Leafs goaltender Erik Kallgren during a poke check. Ovi awkwardly fell and slammed his left shoulder and head slammed into the end boards. Ovechkin writhed in the pain on the ice before skating off under his own power.
TJ Oshie was optimistic after the game and said that he chatted with Ovi before talking to the press.
“I mean, I’ve never met anyone tougher than that guy,” Oshie said. “We all hope he’s fine. I just talked to him and I think he’ll be all right. It’s always scary seeing Big 8 go down and lay on the ice. Like I said, he’s a tough guy. But If there’s anyone I would imagine who would miss [no] more time than he needs to, it’d be 8.”
Ovechkin got in his full gear and took part in the Capitals team photo at practice Monday.
#Caps captain Alex Ovechkin all smiles at today's team picture despite his upper body injury and day-to-day status after crashing into the boards last night.
Ovi even lends an assist to team owner @TedLeonsis as he helps him on the ice for the pic.@nbcwashington #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/PfMmZU7Qnd
— NBC4 Sports (@NBC4Sports) April 25, 2022
Headline photo: Amanda Bowen/RMNB
