ARLINGTON, Va. — First, Alex Ovechkin was day-to-day.
Then he was week-to-week.
Now the latest, courtesy coach Bruce Boudreau: "Hopefully
it's no more than two weeks."
The league's two-time reigning MVP has the most serious
injury of his NHL career, a "upper-body strain" that could test just how good
the Washington Capitals can be this season.
Ovechkin did not practice Tuesday, but he spoke to
reporters in the locker room. He wore a T-shirt and gym shorts without a visible
sign of a bandage or brace — nothing to indicate which body part is ailing. In
hockey, secrecy is the norm when it comes to injuries, especially when the
patient is the world's greatest player.
"Sometimes players have injuries," he said. "Every player
gets hurt. I'm lucky I don't have nothing broken. It's just …"
Ovechkin paused.
"Something," he continued with a smile. "You think I'm
going to tell right now?"
Ovechkin has missed only four games — just two because of
injury — since coming to the NHL in 2005. Game No. 5 comes Wednesday at New
Jersey. He's paced the Capitals with a league-leading 14 goals this season,
helping the team to a comfortable early lead in the Southeast Division.
"I think we can pick up the slack," captain Chris Clark
said. "We have a really good team and we'll be able to show that to everybody
else now. There's been games where he hasn't scored and we've won, but he does
take a lot of focus on the ice."
Ovechkin wouldn't rule out returning for Friday's game
against Florida, but Boudreau made that sound like a reach.
"It's Ovie. He does things no one else can do," the
coach said. "I don't know if it's a viable option or not, but we'll make sure
he's healthy when he plays. … I just know that he's very tolerant to pain. He
wants to play so badly. Given those two equations, if anybody can be back
sooner, it's him."
Ovechkin says he's not sure when he was injured.
Boudreau thinks it happened during a large scrum that started when Ovechkin and
Jason Chimera exchanged a bump for a shove in the second period of Sunday's loss
to Columbus.
Ovechkin has been a physical player from his first game
in the league four years ago. While his style make him more vulnerable to
injuries, he's not about to change.
"He's one of those guys that if he didn't play that way,
he wouldn't be the player that he is," Clark said. "You can't tell a guy like
that to not go out and skate as hard as he can or to check everybody. It's not
in his makeup and he wouldn't be as effective, so you have to take the good with
the bad with him."
Ovechkin plans to travel with the team while he
recovers.
"Take some nachos, take some Coke, and enjoy the game.
Hope the guys are going to win," he said. "I don't want to stay at home and
watch the game at home. I want to travel and I want to be a part of the team,
too."