The Washington Capitals have been without captain Alex Ovechkin for the past three games. While the team has managed to win two of those games, they’d still obviously like to get their leading scorer back as soon as possible.
Ovechkin has sporadically participated in practice and morning skates–including on Wednesday–and has been labeled a game-time decision before each of his absences. The Capitals have also used the term “maintenance” to describe some of his missed days, which somewhat clouds the situation and the timeline for his return.
With Ovechkin’s status up in the air, head coach Spencer Carbery was asked by 106.7 The Fan’s Sports Junkies on Wednesday morning to provide a clearer update on The Great Eight.
“I don’t think this is going to be a long-term thing,” Carbery said. “I would expect him back soon, whether it’s next game or the Saturday game, first game of the road trip. It’s coming soon. This isn’t something that’s going to take a month.”
The Capitals are scheduled to face the St. Louis Blues at home on Thursday before traveling to St. Louis for a rematch on Saturday. That latter game against the Blues will kick off a four-game road swing against Western Conference opponents.
At the end of that trip, the league will pause for All-Star festivities and the Capitals will not get back on the ice for a game until February 6 at home against the Montreal Canadiens. Ovechkin chose to step out of the running for this year’s All-Star Game, prioritizing rest and now recuperation from whatever is ailing him.
After participating in only part of Tuesday’s morning skate, Ovechkin was on the ice on Wednesday as a full participant.
“Positive step today with him taking part in a full practice which was one of the hurdles,” Carbery said post skate. “We’ll gauge for tomorrow whether he’ll be able to play tomorrow night.”
The Great Eight’s current lower-body injury is somewhat of a mystery. At first, it was believed to have stemmed from a collision that he had with Carolina Hurricanes forward Jordan Staal at the beginning of this month.
However, Carbery threw some cold water on that idea when asked about it on Wednesday.
“Specific to the injury, I don’t think it was that Carolina ,” he told the Junkies. “I know what you’re talking about when he got tangled up with Staal but I think this is a different situation.”
Ovechkin’s injury came at a very poor time as it seemed that the legendary winger had just started to heat up offensively in a season where that has been unusually rare for him. As things currently stand, he’s still in the midst of a six-game point streak.
The Blues have historically been one of the teams that Ovechkin has beat up on most, despite how infrequently he comes up against them. In 24 career games against St. Louis, Ovechkin has recorded 35 points (19g, 16a). A return against them could be just what the doctor ordered in two separate ways.
