Happy Thanksgiving!

 
By Corey Masisak, Nov. 27, 2008:

The Caps had an optional skate this morning at K-Plex. Most of the guys were on the ice, but Tom Poti was not. He said he is unsure about playing Friday night against Montreal, but Bruce Boudreau said he expects him to.

If Poti cannot play, then the Caps are short another defenseman. The options are call up another defenseman, play with five d-men, or move a forward to the back end. Without Sergei Fedorov to make that decision easy, one possibility is Brooks Laich. He took a couple of shifts back there against Minnesota because the Caps were down to four defensemen.

Laich was in his normal green practice jersey today, but he did take some slap shots with the defenseman at the end of practice. He said after practice that he just wanted to take some shots at Brent Johnson. Laich said he hasn't played on defense since he was 11 years old.

As for the other injured guys, Sergei Fedorov skated briefly. Boudreau said Fedorov, Alexander Semin and Mike Green are not likely to play until next week, which would rule out Montreal and Columbus. John Erskine could be back as soon as Saturday against Columbus. He said Boyd Gordon is the closest to returning, and didn't rule him out for Friday.

After rattling off all of those injury updates, Boudreau deadpanned, "Other than that, we're fine."

From Habs inside out blog: Bruce Boudreau talks about Ovechkin, Thanksgiving, etc. (audio)

The game's highlights with Ovechkin scoring hat-trick.

By Brian Compton, NHL.com, Nov. 27, 2008:

Alex the great -- Ladies and gentlemen, that's why Alexander Ovechkin is the NHL's reigning Hart Trophy winner.

Despite missing 7 of his teammates on Wednesday night, Ovechkin put his injury-depleted team on his back by scoring 3 times and adding an assist in the Washington Capitals' 5-3 win against the Atlanta Thrashers at the Verizon Center.

"It was a great start for us, especially the hat trick and then the winning," said Ovechkin, who may as well start painting his face like William Wallace. "We lost three in a row, and we just had to come back to our building and win the game."

Washington's Chris Clark (stress fracture of forearm), Jeff Schultz (broken finger), Boyd Gordon (back) and John Erskine (undisclosed) were hurt Monday night in a loss to Minnesota. They joined Alexander Semin (back), Mike Green (shoulder), Sergei Federov (ankle), each of whom have been out with injuries.

It didn't matter. The Caps could have also been missing Jose Theodore and Brent Johnson, and Ovechkin would have found a way to get his team 2 points. He was that good on Wednesday.

"When he gets one early, he gets energized," Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said. "When he's on, it sure makes it difficult to stop."

Actually, Coach, it makes it impossible.

From Puck Daddy's blog:
Alex Ovechkin's boundless enthusiasm. The man could get a dentist's waiting room jacked up.







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