Concussion symptoms still haven’t gone away
The Capitals still have no idea when star center Nicklas Backstrom will return from the concussion he suffered more than two months ago. About the only thing the organization’s medical staff was sure of was that hanging around Washington was not doing him any good.
Backstrom returned to his native Sweden last week to spend time with his family. According to the team, there will be no doctors’ visits or specialists consulted while he’s there. Backstrom will return to the United States on Sunday and will be re-evaluated next week. But for now nothing has changed. He is still bothered by concussion symptoms and won’t take the ice again until they are gone.
“I don’t have an answer for you on that,” Caps general manager George McPhee said last week when asked whether the team had any update on Backstrom’s status. “I wish I did. It’s a lot easier to plan if you have an answer. But we don’t have an answer.”
Backstrom’s trip home mirrors one defenseman Mike Green took last winter when he was fighting to recover from a pair of concussions suffered in February 2011. Green went back to his native Calgary to get away from the day-to-day grind of the NHL, which often leaves injured players feeling isolated from their teammates. A losing streak doesn’t help that feeling of helplessness.
And that’s exactly what the Caps face as they prepare to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night at Verizon Center. A pair of losses over the weekend has left their Stanley Cup playoff hopes in question with just 17 games left in the regular season. Washington entered play Monday one point behind Winnipeg and one point ahead of Buffalo and Tampa Bay. Unfortunately, the Jets and Sabres played each other, leaving an undesirable outcome a certainty.
“We think about [the playoff scenarios] every day,” Caps forward Matt Hendricks said. “We’re here to win hockey games. It’s that time of year. Nothing’s changed. The focus is still there, and we look forward to [Tuesday].”
Hendricks admitted he would like to forget the 5-0 loss at Carolina on Feb. 20, one of his team’s worst of the season. Washington is 3-2 against the Hurricanes this year. Caps coach Dale Hunter altered his lines at Monday’s practice, with Brooks Laich moving up to the top unit with Alex Ovechkin and Marcus Johansson and Jay Beagle moving to third-line center.
Hunter should have goalie Tomas Vokoun available after he missed practice Saturday and Sunday’s game against Philadelphia with an undisclosed lower-body injury. The team returned goalie Braden Holtby to Hershey of the American Hockey League on Monday, so Vokoun at least will back up Michal Neuvirth, who has started the last five games.
“You can take the moral victory a little bit more in October or November, but now it doesn’t really matter,” winger Mike Knuble said. “I think we beat the teams below us, but you don’t beat the teams above us. And that’s why we are where we are. The last five games … follows a pretty predictable path.”
