Caps had a well-attended practice the day after a 4-3 shootout loss to Dallas. They are back in action on Wednesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. Only Alex Ovechkin and Mike Knuble took the day off. And with both players Bruce Boudreau made clear that the team needs them to “get their rest.” Ovechkin because he played in Vancouver. Knuble because … well, he’s 37. He’s earned it.
Defenseman John Carlson, forward Quintin Laing and goalie Semyon Varlamov all stayed late to work with assistant coaches Arturs Irbe and Bob Woods. Forward Scott Walker said he won’t know until tomorrow if he’s back in the lineup. He was a healthy scratch on Monday along with Laing, Tyler Sloan, Tomas Fleischmann and Shaone Morrisonn. Boudreau has another day of lineup headaches awaiting.
This is when playing time really starts to become an issue since most forwards have already taken a turn – David Steckel, Boyd Gordon, Matt Bradley, Brendan Morrison, Tomas Fleischmann. Is Eric Fehr next? He’s playing pretty well right now and had a few more good scoring chances on Monday. Tough call. Jason Chimera could be the odd-man out, too. Maybe not the worst thing in the world considering his pre-Olympic break groin injury.
