The theme of the day out at Caps practice was that Alex Ovechkin’s injury is a chance to prove this is not a one-line team or a one-man team. Several players made that claim. I’d love to know what knuckleheads are actually out there saying that. Because the remaining top six – Backstrom, Semin, Knuble, Morrison, Laich and Fleischmann – is a group you could make the playoffs with even without Ovechkin. Seems like a straw man argument to me. Then again – maybe it’s what athletes need to believe to play with an edge. Either way, the Caps will certainly compensate with a renewed focus on the defensive side of the ice.
“I think that’s been coming. That’s a long time coming and we probably have gotten away with it because of the amount of goals [Ovechkin] scores,” said Caps forward Mike Knuble. “Just outscoring teams [is] not the way it’s going to happen and the way it can happen all the time….Now here’s a good time for Bruce [Boudreau] to hammer home that point.”
I think we know where the “one-man team” message was coming from. Here’s Boudreau on his players’ response to the injury:
“That’s the way I’d look at it if I was them. As much as Alex gets all the press I’ve got to believe we’re not a one-man team. And there’s still a lot of good players in [the dressing room] and we shouldn’t use that as a crutch. A lot of teams – [Thrashers forward Ilya] Kovalchuk is out, [Carolina forward Eric] Staal is out and those teams are moving on. We have to be the same way.”
The revamped lines at practice on Tuesday had Tomas Fleischmann with Nicklas Backstrom and Knuble. Alex Semin was with Brendan Morrison and Brooks Laich. No idea if that’s how it will stay tomorrow night against New Jersey. But that looks like two balanced scoring lines for the short-term.
“We are not a one-man team. It sometimes looks like that because of how good [Ovechkin] is. He’s a huge hockey player,” said Fleischmann, who has played alongside Backstrom both last year and briefly this season. “But we’ll see. Hard to say what’s going to happen because Ovie is hardly ever out of a game. But I think we should be okay…I don’t think we have one top line right now…No reason to panic. It’s a good lineup. ”
Boudreau did say that forward Eric Fehr (ribs) is out – even though he practiced on Tuesday. Expect Tyler Sloan to again move from defense to forward against the Devils tomorrow. The Caps could recall another player from AHL Hershey instead. But the Bears are on a road trip in Lowell, Mass. – well north of Boston – so getting a player to Newark may be tough on short notice.
Defenseman John Erskine (bruised hand) has been cleared to play, but Boudreau will hold off on that decision until the morning skate tomorrow. Center Mathieu Perreault replaces center Keith Aucoin and should make his NHL debut tomorrow. Aucoin was two NHL games away from needing to clear waivers the next time he is sent down. His re-assignment to Hershey buys the team some more time on that front. The 30-year-old had a goal and four assists with Washington. Expect to see him back – especially if Boyd Gordon continues to labor with back issues. Gordon did not practice again Tuesday. Perreault, 21, has a goal and six assists with the Bears through 11 AHL games.
