Alex Ovechkin and Jason Arnott were both non-committal this morning when asked if they were ready to return from injury tonight against Carolina. But the scratches’ skate indicates they are.
Forwards Jay Beagle, Jason Chimera and D.J. King remained on the ice for extra work with assistant coaches Dean Evason and Bob Woods. Tyler Sloan was the lone defenseman out there for the post-skate workout. The three forwards were on the ice until about 11:10 a.m. and you don’t skate them that hard if there’s doubt about other players.
Ovechkin was only on the ice for about 15 minutes this morning – though that isn’t unusual for him on a game day. For both players the usual cost-benefit analysis must be done. Is it worth playing in a late-season game or taking another day to rest? As Brooks Laich pointed out this morning, standings points remain important to Washington, which wants to hold off No. 3 Boston, push No. 1 Philadelphia and win the Southeast Division. So is playing tonight worth it?
“And that’s what we’ve got to discuss,” Arnott said. “I’m sure they’ll want to know how I’m feeling and we’ll go from there.”
Looks like they did and decided to go ahead. Chimera understandably didn’t want to say anything after the morning skate. Would you want to answer questions if your boss told you to sit this one out? Fair enough. But barring a setback expect Ovechkin and Arnott to play tonight. Not that Caps coach Bruce Boudreau was ready to confirm it.
“I’m not going say who’s in the lineup or who’s out of the lineup,” Boudreau said. “Just talking to the trainers and finding out who’s healthy and who’s not healthy and who’s ready to go, who’s not ready to go. The players will all know but you guys will know when you see it.”
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