Update: Tom Wilson sent to Hershey. It may not be a rehab stint either. He's expected to make his Bears debut this weekend.
Wilson is coming off an off-season leg injury that kept him out of training camp. He was not eligible to be sent down last season.
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The Capitals just barely made it out of Washington alive on Saturday, beating the pesky Florida Panthers 2-1 in a shootout. The Caps were in control of the game for the first two periods, but Panthers netminder Al Montoya made things difficult, stopping a total of 26 of 27 Washington shots on goal.
Justin Peters made his Caps debut, stopping 20-21 Florida shots. The Panthers scored on a power play in the third period after the Caps took 3 straight penalties to give Florida the man advantage. The Capitals penalty kill continued to be outstanding, save for Brad Boyes' goal at the 4:27 mark,
The Caps scored all three shootout goals with Alex Ovechkin clinching it for the home team.
The third line of Jason Chimera, Eric Fehr and Joel Ward were impressive as usual. Chimera scored the lone regulation goal for the Caps in the first period with assists from his linemates.
Brooks Laich was injured with five minutes remaining in the game when he took a nice shoulder check from Shawn Thornton. Laich will be evaluated.
"To be honest with you, I thought he hurt his knee because he blocked a shot right before that too," Trotz said. "He had hurt his knee blocking a shot two games previous and I thought it just hit him on the same spot. When he went off, someone told me it was upper-body, not lower-body.” (NHL.com)
It wasn't a pretty game, but the Caps remain undefeated in regulation. They face Edmonton on Wednesday at 9:30ET.
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Brooks Laich will not be travelling with the team for their Western Canadian road trip. Forward Jay Beagle will be replacing him on the second line.
Laich's agent declined to comment about the injury. Laich missed 70 regular season games over the last two seasons with a groin injury.
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Barry Trotz is still praising Ovechkin for his play so far this season, calling attention to the fact that Ovechkin is maturing into a new game.
“He’s a maturing young man. Trust me, I say he is a little bit of a wildflower. But at the same time it’s no different than your kids. There are kids who are very stay-between-the-lines, and there are some that test the lines all the times."
Ovechkin leads the Caps and is fourth in the league in hits with 23, and it's nice to see him more physical like he was a few years ago, before he was suspended a couple times.
Trotz likes what he sees and says that Ovechkin is in great shape and is ready to take on a new role.
"As he grows as a person and as a player he knows that his game has to grow. He’s been blocking shots, playing good team defense, he’s been physical. He came in in phenomenal shape. I mean, that’s leadership. The best leadership is doing what’s right all the time, basically when no one’s looking.”
Ovechkin has 5 goals on the season to along with 1 assist, 4 blocked shots, 4 PIM 26 SOG and 23 hits.
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Nicklas Backstrom played in his 500 NHL regular season game on Saturday. He has 499 points (128g, 371a).
He was drafted #4 in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. The pick was almost traded to the Boston Bruins who were ready to make a deal with the Caps to obtain the pick.
When former GM George McPhee asked former Bruins Interim GM Jeff Gorton who they were going to pick, Gorton simply replied, "The Swede".
McPhee talked it over with Head of Scouting, Ross Mahoney and the quickly dismissed the idea.
Backstrom was then called up to the podium by his future linemate, Alex Ovechkin, as the Capitals drafted the future centerman.
“In all my years of scouting he’s probably one of the smartest, if not the smartest hockey player I’ve scouted,” Mahoney said. “And tremendous hands. He had that combination of hands and intelligence and we thought his hockey IQ was off the charts.”
The Bruins, who picked 5th that year, went on to draft Phil Kessel.
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Rookie Andre Burakovsky is having quite a year so far. With 2 goals and 3 assists in his first 5 NHL games, the rookie is making a name for himself within the ranks of the Washington Capitals.
The last Caps rookie to score a point in the first 4 games of the season was Alex Ovechkin in 2005. Ovechkin scored 6 goals and 4 assists in his first 8 straight games.
More to come...
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