It has been a rough ride for Capitals forward Jay Beagle, who hasn’t played since suffering a concussion on Oct. 13 after a fight with Pittsburgh’s Arron Asham.
Beagle was back on the ice skating Saturday for the first time since Nov. 8 He originally felt well enough to resume hockey activities earlier this month and twice skated on his own before practice after clearance from team medical personnel. But he suffered a setback later that week and had to rest. Beagle finally returned to the ice on Saturday, skating for 15 minutes. It’s a start.
The key, Beagle told reporters at Kettler Iceplex on Saturday, is raising his heart rate and getting through the next day without a recurrence of symptoms. That wasn’t a problem after a week on the exercise bike. But 30 minutes on the bike still doesn’t equal 15 minutes on the ice – especially when you’re so excited you couldn’t sleep the night before. So we’ll see how Beagle responds over the next 24-to-48 hours. If the answer is positive we’ll see him again soon. No word yet on if Washington will practice on Sunday. Saturday’s result will determine that. Could be Beagle will take the ice again on his own early this week while the Caps are on a road trip in Florida and Ottawa.
“I want to play. Even from three weeks ago I can tell that there’s a difference,” Beagle said. “Three weeks ago I was pushing it a little bit and…I thought it felt good compared to how it felt two weeks before that. I felt great and then once you get off the ice and I had that setback where the head was back to not feeling 100 percent and I had to rest a little bit.”
Follow me on Twitter @bmcnally14
