Pretty much all smiles as the Capitals practiced on Monday. To be expected following a 7-2 shellacking of Calgary on Saturday night and an off day Sunday after a long flight home. Washington’s players didn’t get back to the area until almost 8 a.m. Sunday morning.
Defenseman Tom Poti and Tyler Sloan both were on the ice as they fight to return from injuries. No guarantee either plays on Wednesday against the Maple Leafs. They are listed as day-to-day. The Caps sent center Mathieu Perreault and defenseman Brian Fahey back to AHL Hershey over the weekend – though either could be recalled, if needed. But since Hershey had a game on Sunday and Washington builds – slightly – on its salary-cap cushion by sending them to the minors the move made sense.
Semyon Varlamov was not on the ice Monday. No immediate update on his condition other than he’s believed to be still battling a sore groin and is also listed as day-to-day. Varlamov has played just one full game and two periods this season. Marcus Johansson was on the ice, but the rookie center was sporting a yellow non-contact jersey. He, too, is day-to-day.
Spoke with Caps forward David Steckel about his rare penalty-shot attempt in the Calgary game. Bruce Boudreau told reporters after the game how he earnestly instructed Steckel to shoot low. Instead, Steckel saw goalie Henrik Karlsson stack the pads and roofed the puck. Steckel pointed out there’s not much thought involved in a penalty shot. Those things move much too fast to come up with a hard-and-fast plan. Steckel believes his last shootout/penalty-shot attempt came on Nov. 28, 2007 when the Caps went 11 rounds with the Florida Panthers. Steckel was stoned that night by Tomas Vokoun in a 2-1 loss at Verizon Center.
One final note: Boudreau never really thought about putting Alex Ovechkin back on the ice after he scored twice in 12 seconds on Saturday. The NHL record – and one of the sport’s most unbreakable – is three goals in 21 seconds by Chicago’s Bill Mosienko. No one has come within 23 seconds since that mark was set on March 23, 1952. As Boudreau notes: Ovechkin will set plenty of records in his career.
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