Daily Caps Report, Getting Healthier

I apologize for the lack of Capitals coverage the past few days, but it’s finals time, and I have face my toughest law school final at 6PM tonight, on a damn Friday!  So expect things to get back to normal come the weekend.
D Mike Green and F Sergei Fedorov may return to the Capitals lineup tonight, one game after the Caps got back D Tom Poti, who was missing from practice yesterday again, and F Alexander Semin.  The injuries fortunately are starting to play out a bit and the Caps are going to get a boost here soon with regular starters making their returns.
The Capitals still face injuries to Eric Fehr, Tomas Fleischmann, Brent Johnson, and John Erskine.  Of the four, Johnson is likely the less serious as he suffered through a slight re-aggravation to his hip injury.

Meantime, goaltender Brent Johnson also did not practice after earning the first star with a 33-save performance against Boston. In the first period, Johnson aggravated the hip injury that has nagged him since last month, and because of that, Boudreau said he hasn’t decided whether to start Johnson or José Theodore tonight.

“A lot depends on how [Johnson] feels,” Boudreau said. “If he’s playing really good, you want to run with him. But you also don’t want to get him hurt where he misses two weeks again and it takes him a while to get back into it.”

UPDATE: Corey Masisak reports that Poti and Johnson likely will play tonight.  Poti played in the win over Boston but did not skate the next day in practice.  Masisak said that Fedorov was only on the ice for a little bit, likely not a good sign for his treturn tonight. 

The interesting thing about the Caps this year — the daunting task they face is not winning against the Eastern Conference Elite, but teams that are in the bottom half of the EC.

The Caps (16-10-3, 35 points) rank seventh among NHL teams in points so far and are 6-1 against the rest of the top 10 with wins over the New York Rangers, Pittsburgh, Montreal, Vancouver, Anaheim and, most recently, Boston.

Things haven’t come as easy against teams at the bottom of the standings, however. It is still early so the standings don’t show much separation yet. But of the teams with 27 points or less – the league’s bottom 10 – the Caps are 4-4-1. Against teams slotted between No. 11 and 20 they are 5-5-2.

Unbelievable.  Caps face similar daunting tasks on  the road and have to improve the road record if they want to take a legit shot at the top three of the Eastern Conference.  The Sea of Red is obviously not a problem for ther Capitals.  They have the second best home record in the NHL, next only to San Jose who is 15-0-2.  The Caps are 11-1-1.  But, on the road, the Capitals are 5-9-2.  After tonight’s game against Ottawa, the Capitals will be on the road in 4 of their next 5 games.  It is going to a be key stretch for the Capitals to hold or expand the Southeast lead over Carolina, a lead that stands at 5 standing points.
Here is a sad story update on D Brian Pothier, who is obviously not close to returning to the Capitals lineup, if ever.

The effects of the fourth documented concussion in his professional hockey career – and second in less than 12 months – have proved debilitating. Eleven months removed from the injury, the Washington Capitals defenseman still can’t play catch with his 5-year-old son Jake or get on the swing set with his 3-year-old son Luke.

“You’ve got your 3-year-old son coming up to you saying, ‘Daddy, is the boo-boo on your head gone yet?’” Pothier said. “Every day he says that to me for like three months straight, and I’ve got to say, ‘No, buddy, not yet.’ It is kind of a smack in the face of reality.”

But kudos to Pothier.  He is trying to stay involved and make an impact on the Capitals the best he can, without skating right now.

Pothier is not practicing or playing with his teammates, but he has tried to stay involved. He hangs out with guys at the practice rink and attends every home game.

Karl Alzner praised Pothier for being a mentor to the 20-year-old top prospect. Pothier said he is more than willing to offer advice, but he also tries not to push it.

“It is hard, because you can be around the guys, but you’re not around the guys and hockey,” said Caps captain Chris Clark, who missed a large chunk of last season with a groin injury. “You don’t feel like you’re part of the same club sometimes. You’re in, but you’re not.”

We continue to wish you well Brian!
And all good things need to come to an end, as they did last night for the Hershey Bears.  San Antonio snapped the Bears 11 game winning streak, winning 3-0 after two scoreless periods.  Simeon Varlamov shutout the Rampage for two periods, but also had his 7 game winning streak snapped.  Varlamov stopped 29 of 32 shots.