Alex Ovechkin (center) was unable to skate on his own after a bad knee-to-knee collision last night. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
To DCist’s loyal Capitals supporters:
Yup, I jinxed it. Blame it on me. On Saturday, totally without knocking on wood or anything, I openly asserted my belief that the Capitals would messianically deliver Washington, D.C. from the sporting hell in which it currently suffers. Then tonight, Alexander Ovechkin — certainly the most talented individual in the D.C. sports world, if not the most popular — bashed knees with Carolina’s Tim Gleason about seven minutes into the first period of a 3-2 win. It didn’t look good: Gleason had to be helped to the back, while Ovechkin stayed on the ice for several minutes and was grimacing severely as he was helped off the ice. (To add insult to injury, Ovi was also assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing — his second misconduct in the last week, and one which could draw a suspension from the league. No complaints here: Ovechkin shouldn’t ever be trying to hit like that.) There will be no word on exactly how severe Ovechkin’s injury is until tomorrow. At least the Caps did go on to victory — Nicklas Backstrom and Eric Fehr, who have both just been on fire as of late, scored all three goals and Jose Theodore made 38 saves. But obviously, the Caps’ prospects significantly hinge on how much time their best player will miss — and whether or not the team has the firepower to keep it going if it’s an extended absence.
So yeah, considering the way things have been going around here the last couple of years, I just should have have known better. Sorry.
Regards,
Aaron
