Capitals defensemen Roman Hamrlik and John Erskine were both on the ice at Monday’s practice. That’s a good sign considering Erskine didn’t play on Saturday against the Devils and Hamrlik left that game in the second period. Turns out both expect to play on Tuesday when Washington plays at the Nashville Predators. Hamrlik had an “upper-body” injury after taking a couple shots in the second period, but says he feels okay. The day off did him some good.
So Caps coach Bruce Boudreau doesn’t see the need for a recall from AHL Hershey for blueline insurance. The team has games Tuesday, Thursday (Winnipeg) and Saturday (Toronto). The off days after each game will leave enough time to get someone in if there’s another injury. If someone needs to be scratched at a morning skate or in pregame warm-ups then Boudreau could always just use forward Brooks Laich there again as insurance. Laich held his own on Saturday in that spot, starting on the blueline when Erskine was scratched.
Meanwhile, defenseman Mike Green was missing from practice after taking a hit from New Jersey’s Ryan Carter in Friday’s win over the Devils. No way to tell exactly what happened. Carter drove into Green’s left leg, but he wasn’t coming with a great deal of speed at the time. Replays show Green skating gingerly to the bench. Was it the left knee? The right ankle? Did he just get, um…tagged in an unfortunate location? Probably not that one considering it cost him a practice. Green wasn’t around to take after practice.
Turns out he won’t make the trip, either, according to Boudreau. Now, he says Green could still fly out later in the week if he’s feeling better. I’m skeptical of that only because how often does that happen? You’d think Green would need to get a practice in on Wednesday in Nashville or Friday in Toronto. We’ll see.
You have to feel for Green. Two head injuries last season, a hip injury in the playoffs, the ankle injury that cost him six games already. And now another one missed against the Devils on Saturday. Not good. But no Hershey recalls at practice. Sean Collins was hurt over the weekend with the Bears. Could always see Dmitry Orlov or Patrick McNeill on the trip if someone else goes down. At this point it seems likely someone will. It’s a walking M*A*S*H unit up in here.
“It’s pretty insane. Something about the Devils they’re just knocking us down,” Washington defenseman Karl Alzner said. “Three guys out of action because of them. It was strange. But it comes from us battling harder, I think. Mucking it up in the corners more than we have been in games prior to that. It was nice to see that we’re working hard, but tough to see us getting injured in the process.”
Alzner and Dennis Wideman both said they absolutely don’t change their game when teammates start to go down one by one. Can’t make up for anyone’s absence that way. In their opinion that would simply lead to more injuries and takes away from their own game. Leave the injuries to the fates. Wideman did say the extra minutes – he topped 33 on Saturday against the Devils – makes him less likely to jump into the play. You have to conserve energy somehow.
“I don’t know if it’s even that tough for [Wideman],” Alzner joked. “He’s got iron lungs. That’s what we call him. He’s one of those guys who can play forever…But we don’t want him to have to do it that much.”
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