According to Samantha Pell of the Washington Post, Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin left tonight’s game with an upper-body injury and will not return to the game (link). The injury happened early in the third period when Ovechkin found himself on a breakaway, but was tripped up by Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Erik Kallgren, who reached his stick out to try to poke the puck away from Ovechkin, who crashed awkwardly into the boards, lead by his left arm and shoulder. The star winger was able to get up under his own power, but immediately left the ice and went to the dressing room, not returning.
It doesn’t need to be said that the loss of Ovechkin, for any stretch of time, is a major loss for the Capitals. For tonight, Washington was able to rally around their captain after he left, scoring two quick goals to take a 3-1 lead before Toronto came storming back. However, with three games remaining after tonight, and in a tight battle with the Boston Bruins for the first Wild Card position in the Eastern Conference, Washington will need everything it can get out of Ovechkin. Standings battles aside, the team only has a little over one week before playoff games begin, where they will be facing either the Florida Panthers, Carolina Hurricanes, or possibly the New York Rangers, none of whom will be an easy task.
At 36-years-old, Ovechkin is still his team’s most valuable player and making his own case as the league’s most valuable player this season, with 50 goals and 40 assists in 77 games, including tonight. The future hall-of-famer has been a rock for the Capitals, missing little to no games every season, including just two this year. Of course, it’s still too early to know any timetable for Ovechkin or the severity of the injury, but the Capitals and their fans will have to hold their breath on the status of their captain this close to playoff time.
Crud
And ESPN+ can go suck an egg
Absolutely garbage that game was only on Hulu and Espn+ even in the local market. I pay $150 a month for cable now and there is no chance in HELL I will pay extra for a streaming service. SCREW ESPN And HULU.
Yeah this is really garbage. Bettman was anti-ESPN since 2004, so that’s like 18 years. Now all of a sudden, he’s so in love with them that he’s going to disband NHL TV for US viewers (but still available for viewers outside the US) and make it so ESPN+ / Hulu are the only providers of this service and on top of that, take local games away from fans that have been part of their cable package forever and throw them behind an ESPN paywall. It’s absolutely ludicrous.
Last night’s game wasn’t even one of the games that was to be exclusive to ESPN+, it was a last minute decision apparently. There were 6 or 7 other games this season they did this with. I hear nothing but crap about ESPN+’s coverage. Bettman once again showing he really doesn’t care about the fans at all. Instead, he now cares about the welfare of a network he has hated for the last 18 years over the fans. I wouldn’t even care if the games were on regular ESPN networks, but throwing local games behind paywalls is absolutely ridiculous. As you said, people already pay enough for their cable service. Bettman is such a tool.
As for Ovechkin, Kallgren clearly tripped him and of course the refs still miss the call. I’ve not seen Ovechkin stay down like that before and you could see he was actually screaming out in pain on the ice. It didn’t look good at all. To add insult to injury, they blew a 3-1 lead in the last 10 minutes neither of which goals were even Vanecek’s fault really. The goal that tied it up was fluky, but the defense should have had his back there. He can’t see the crazy bounces going on behind the net. Just an overall bad night all around.
Don’t know if this site frowns on links so I am not providing one. That said, find a site called onhockey dot tv. Watch pretty much any hockey game from anywhere on the planet that you would like. No charge.
yeah! the trip by Kallgren was bad looked very bad on NHL officials and Caps fans hopefully he will make it back soon , way to take out a player whom Toronto may potentially play if they get through 1st round, not a given , Hopefully still have NHL Center Ice(as each team has a channel to follow with schedule for that nights games and teams liked by all subscribers, hopefully it want get canned would be a travisty if so) on my Dish Plan for the NHL Network , not at all excited with Garry’s deal who only benefits Garry with ESPN
Well, for all of you guys that have been jammed up by the BS “New and Improved” TV deal, I feel for you. Bettman seems Hell-bent on blowing up a fan base that won’t grow new members organically. It’s time to abolish the bogus blackout rules and hold those media outlets accountable.
Mac, yeah! the BS Blackouts are pathetic as here can’t watch the Predators , as I follow more Central Division Teams, unless they are on NBC , they already taken NBCSN to Sling so which smells like Bettman takeover , eventually way it is looking and the prices of Streaming guess will have to go back to “Ole’School Days” and dust off the old radio or listen to games on NHL.com , Stay Safe.
@G – This is the type of situation that will make some see why I’ve been listening to games on radio/interweb radio for these many years. If I had the financial wherewithal to pay for a blank-check TV package, I might do it, but not if most games would be unavailable for no good reason. Hope all is well in TN for you!
BTW, for anyone else reading, occasionally NHL.com will botch the links for the Sirius/XM feeds (the headphone icon). Up until a year ago, or so, it might be once or twice that you’d see the link pointing to a game that is a month away. This year, it has happened several times, necessitating the need for “Plan B”, aka, the backup sources (TuneIn, iHeart, radiostationusa.fm). So, don’t be surprised when it happens.
Can’t get the game on your area and blacked out?
Use NHL66.ir you can stream any game necessary when blacked out in your area
onhockey.tv
The problem for me is my tv won’t let me connect a device that is using a VPN, so I have to watch it on my phone. And last night it wasn’t working. I use nhl66 but I’ll have to check out on hockey. Thanks
It appears Ovechkin is day-to-day according to the Capitals. Hopefully, that’s the truth of it. He’s not in a sling, but article claims he was favoring his left arm. There’s some photos and a brief video.
link to nbcsports.com