Capitals defenseman Tom Poti skated for about 30 minutes prior to an extremely optional skate at Kettler Iceplex on Thursday morning. Poti has played just one game since Oct. 21. That was last Thursday vs. Tampa Bay. But as that night went on Poti’s original injury “got worse and worse and worse.”
So he met with team doctors and trainers and decided to stay off the ice completely for a few days. But while he has returned to skating, Poti said his half-hour session wasn’t close to 100-percent effort. Of course, it’s November and he can give the injury a little extra time to heal. That doesn’t make sitting out any easier, though.
“I felt probably as close to completely ready as I was going to be, I guess,” Poti said of his health entering the Tampa game. “It didn’t work out and you have to take a step back at some point…It’s a back-to-the-drawing-board type thing.”
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said he knows who his goalie will be tomorrow night in Atlanta – rookie Braden Holtby or Michal Neuvirth. He wasn’t passing that information on to the rest of us, of course. Holtby played well against the Philadelphia Flyers in his first NHL start on Nov. 7 with 23 saves on 25 shots. That is Saturday’s opponent at Verizon Center in the second game of a back-to-back. Neuvirth is 2-1 against Atlanta this season – but has allowed 11 goals on 90 shots and the loss came Oct. 8 at Philips Arena on Opening Night. This will be Washington’s fourth game against the Thrashers in just 20 this season. That’s pretty close quarters with a Southeast Division rival. And the two teams play again on Dec. 4. Their final game of the season against each other is Jan. 26. Too much?
“Well, but it’s good because as far as preparing for them. You don’t really have to do as much because we played them last week,” said Caps forward Matt Bradley. “We know what they bring to the table. We played them last week. So as far as scouting it’s easier. Sometimes it does get a little bit much playing a team too many times at the start of the year. But that’s the way the schedule is and we’ve got to get wins no matter who we’re playing against.”
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