Clark Out 7-10 Days
Chris Clark, the Caps' first line right wing and captain, will miss 7-10 days (at least) because of a sprained shoulder. Clark was leveled by San Jose defenseman Doug Murray early in the third period of Wednesday's 3-2 shootout loss and did not return to the game. He also did not practice today.
The good news is that it's not a concussion as originally feared. But here's the bad news: Clark is not the only right wing who is hurting. Prospect Eric Fehr left today's practice after only a few minutes with a sore lower back and is questionable for tomorrow's game in New Jersey. So that means the Caps could be without their top two RWs against a team that's hard to score against anyway.
In practice, Coach Hanlon put Donald Brashear on the right side of the top line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Dainius Zubrus. That combo, however, is not set in stone.
Although the Caps can fill out their lineup by putting in some of the scratches, I wouldn't be surprised to see someone called up from Hershey if Fehr is unable to play.
Also, I wouldn't expect to see backup goalie Frederic Cassivi play either game against the Devils this weekend.
I'll have more on the situation in tomorrow's paper.
Please don't forget to join me for online at 2 p.m. for our weekly chat.
By
Tarik El-Bashir
|
February 23, 2007; 12:38 PM ET
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Posted by: Plumbers | February 23, 2007 1:07 PM | Report abuse
Tarik, how do we get to your online chat at 2?
Posted by: kenhockey | February 23, 2007 1:13 PM | Report abuse
Yes, sorry, i meant Zubrus. I was typing really fast.
Posted by: Tarik | February 23, 2007 1:23 PM | Report abuse
great update , Tarik! thanks!
Posted by: wanggo | February 23, 2007 1:55 PM | Report abuse
BRASH on the top line, sounds good to me. I mean why not, he has been one of their best forwards the last couple of games. The rich-sudsy-don line has been getting some real nice scoring chances recently and really working in to offensive zone. I bet nobody looks at OV sideways either.
Posted by: LIVINIT | February 23, 2007 3:10 PM | Report abuse
Tarik,
Question for you?
you have mentioned several times that the caps practice the shootout.
My question is do they spend any time on shootout video? Watching other guys moves that work, checking goalie tendencies....
seams like this would be helpfull but I havent heared they are doing it.
Thanks,
Posted by: LIVINIT | February 23, 2007 3:23 PM | Report abuse
Is this an apropriate time to spew a long string of curse words? Sounds like about the right reaction. So, basically, we have no captain and no leader on ice for over a week. Oh joy. This will be...........interesting.......like the bottom of the Annacostia is interesting.
Posted by: EricS | February 23, 2007 8:32 PM | Report abuse
The comments to this entry are closed.
Tarik said:
"In practice, Coach Hanlon put Donald Brashear on the right side of the top line alongside Alex Ovechkin and Chris Clark. That combo, however, is not set in stone."
You meant Zubrus right?