As reported by TSN's Bob McKenize, Washington Capitals Captain and left wing Alex Ovechkin has been suspended for three games for a hit on Pittsburgh's Zbynek Michalek during Sunday afternoon's game with the Penguins.

Ovechkin will miss three games: Tuesday against Boston, January 31st at Tampa Bay and February 1st at Florida.

Update (2:15pm):  Alex Ovechkin has opted out of participating in the NHL All-Star Game.

The Washington Capitals were on ice for practice Monday at 11 AM as they prepare to take on the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins at Verizon Center on Tuesday night.  Some updates from Kettler Capitals Iceplex:

Nicklas Backstrom skated for the first time since his injury, though he was only on the ice for five minutes and was not wearing any equipment.  Backstrom merely stickhandled, not doing anything strenuous.  It's a start, but Nick is still obviously a long way off.  He did not speak with reporters but Dale Hunter confirmed he would stay in Washington over the All-Star break.

Marcus Johansson returned to the practice ice after missing Sunday's game with the Penguins because of an illness.  Mathieu Perreault, however, remained on the top line, practicing with Alexander Semin and Johansson so he can take over in the likely instance that Alex Ovechkin gets suspended for DC's game against Boston.

The other lines were as follows: Hendricks-Laich-Brouwer, Chimera-Halpern-Knuble, and Beagle-Eakin-Ward.  Eeesh.

Check back later.

Harry Hawkings is a college student who covers the Caps for RtR.  Follow him on Twitter here. 

After 47 games, it has never been clearer to me that this Washington Capitals team is different than those of the last five years.

Over the last five years, the Capitals have either been an explosive team on offense or a standout team on defense, almost exclusively the former.  They knew what their identity was.

This year, they have neither a dominating offense nor a standout defense, and they don’t have an identity.  Sunday’s game against the Penguins was a perfect illustration of this.

The Capitals fell behind early on two goals, one of which was incredibly poor penalty killing and the other a poor screen by Dennis Wideman that gave Michal Neuvirth no chance to react to an absolute rocket that was over his shoulder before he could move.

In fact, it was only a sensational save from Neuvirth, and quite frankly a bit of luck that James Neal didn’t get a better handle on his shot, that kept the game from being effectively over after eleven minutes.

Yes, the Capitals battled back by taking advantage of opportunities and by capitalizing on mistakes.  They played desperately.  But other than the first half of the second period, there was little time in which the Capitals were dictating the pace of play.

Eventually, after taking a lead, the Capitals folded, and they didn’t deserve to win that game.  They showed admirable determination and heart, but even without Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal, the Penguins were the better team.

That’s been a theme of the Dale Hunter era – getting outplayed.  Most nights, the Capitals have needed a huge game from Tomas Vokoun, and occasionally Michal Neuvirth, to pull out a victory.

Even when the Capitals had their struggles last year under Bruce Boudreau, very rarely were the Capitals beaten down physically like they were against Carolina on Friday and Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The irony, of course, is that Dale Hunter was supposed to get the Caps playing a more physical style of hockey that wore teams down.

Oops.

Granted, the Capitals missing their top two centers and Mike Green didn’t help matters.  But this is a team that is being consistently out-shot since Hunter took over, and it’s been even worse since Nicklas Backstrom went out – the Caps are getting out-shot by an average of twelve shots in the period that Backtrom has been absent with his concussion.

Read on.

The Washington Capitals were on ice for a practice Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh following their 3-0 embarrassment against the Hurricanes on Friday night.  Some updates from the CONSOL Energy Center:

Dale Hunter changed up his lines again following Friday night's game.  They were as follows: Ovechkin-Johansson-Brouwer, Semin-Laich-Knuble, Chimera-Halpern-Ward, and Hendricks-Eakin-Perreault-Beagle.

Hunter, who said before the game with Carolina knew who would start tomorrow's game against the Penguins, was not divulging who his selection was after the skate.

Nicklas Backstrom now has not skated in over two weeks.

That's all for now.

Information from Steve Whyno was used in this post.

The Washington Capitals laid another tremendous egg on Friday night, falling at the hands of the cellar-dwelling Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 inside RBC center.  Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves in a very solid performance, but Jussi Jokinen scored twice and Jiri Tlusty added a third as the Caps failed to pick up any momentum from their win over the Canadiens on Wednesday.  It was the second time in three games that Washington has been shut out after not being shut out before Tuesday of this week.

Carolina got off to a hot start, forcing turnovers in the DC zone and making Vokoun play sharp early to keep the score deadlocked.  After those chances, though, there was little offensive flair or opportunities, until Marcus Johansson drew a tripping call with 8:36 left in the opening frame.

After a very poor opening minute of a man advantage, it got worse quickly when Eric Staal poked the puck away from John Carlson and Jussi Jokinen collected the loose change and popped it past Vokoun for a shorthanded goal.

Washington got another opportunity to get into the game with another power play three minutes after Jokinen’s goal, but again came up with a pathetic effort, giving up more chances than they created and relying on Tomas Vokoun to save their bacon.  The period ended with Washington down 1-0 and lucky not to be down much more.

The Caps came out nicely in the second period, generating a couple nice chances, but Mike Knuble hit the post with Cam Ward out of his goal and Jason Chimera made a bad pass on a 3-on-1 to eliminate those opportunities.  It got worse with 13:43 left in the frame when Mike Knuble was sent off for holding.

Read on.

Michal Neuvirth made 31 saves in his first start since December 26^th and the Washington Capitals got goals from three separate players Wednesday night to take out the Montreal Canadiens inside the Bell Centre.  Hometown kid Mathieu Perreault, Marcus Johansson, and Alex Ovechkin scored the goals and nine different Capitals had points as well in the victory.  With their win, Washington ensures they remain in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.

After Matt Hendricks danced with Rene Bourque early as payback for the latter elbowing Nicklas Backstrom, Washington began to establish some pressure.  The Capitals were then able to get an early lead when Perreault, who had spent the previous week as a healthy scratch, ripped one over Carey Price’s shoulder after less than five minutes.  Johansson doubled the lead in short order with another shot over Price’s other shoulder, and then the Caps were awarded a power play, giving them a chance to really go for the jugular.

They could not add another, though, and soon enough the Habs began to pressure and earned their first two power plays of the evening over the next eight minutes, being unable to convert on either one.  The period closed with DC ahead 2-0.

Montreal was granted a third power play less than three minutes into the second period to try and pick up more offensive punch, but again were listless and conceded a four minute power play to the visiting team.  And after a very poor opening two minutes of the man advantage, Ovechkin walked in and pumped one past Price for a 3-0 lead, silencing the Bell Centre.

The Canadiens could not play poorly forever, though, and as the period continued began to establish a good forecheck and neutral zone presence, forcing Neuvirth into some nice saves, particularly with his glove hand.  Montreal pushed particularly hard within the final 30 seconds of the period, but the frame ended with the Caps ahead 3-0.

Read on.

WASHINGTON – It had to end sometime.

The Washington Capitals had their modest three-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night, falling to the lowly New York Islanders 3-0 inside Verizon Center.  P.A. Parenteau had two goals to lead the visitors offensively, while Evgeni Nabokov made 17 saves for his 51st career shutout.  It was the first time this season that the Capitals were shut out.

“We didn’t play Capital hockey,” said winger Joel Ward.  “We made a couple of poor choices and different times, and they capitalized.”

For a team that desperately needed two points at home before heading on the road to play the Canadiens on Wednesday night, the Capitals looked pitiful from the start, allowing odd-man rushes, taking silly penalties, and allowing the Islanders, who had played the day before, to walk all over them.

An early penalty by Karl Alzner was the first culprit, leading to a beautiful goal in front off the stick of John Tavares, and the Capitals were lucky that Tavares was the only man to find his mark in the opening frame.

“I think the thing that hurt us tonight is we were flat,” said Matt Hendricks.  Captain Alex Ovechkin felt the same way.  “We don’t make hits in the first period,” he said.  “Just play casual. We have only (five) shots in the first period, it's not our game.  We have to make more shots on net and make more opportunity from that."

Parenteau doubled the visiting team’s lead only six minutes into the second period when a very poor passing play between Dmitry Orlov and John Carlson gave the winger all day in front, a chance he converted easily on Vokoun.  “It was a bad pass,” said Dale Hunter.  “The video won’t lie.”

Read on.

The Washington Capitals were on ice for their morning skate Tuesday at 10 AM as they prepare to take on the New York Islanders this evening.

The lines were the same as from the previous practice and games: Ovechkin-Johansson-Semin, Brouwer-Laich-Knuble, Chimera-Halpern-Ward, and Eakin-Hendricks-Beagle.  Tomas Vokoun has also been confirmed as the starter in goal.

The healthy scratches, as predicted, are Mathieu Perreault, Jeff Schultz, and John Erskine.

General Manager George McPhee was made available to the media to comment today with regards to the injuries of Mike Green and Nicklas Backstrom.  On Green, McPhee noted that he has "basically" a sports hernia, and that if he works hard, could be back in four weeks, but the outside is six.  When asked if this will affect Green again, McPhee said simply, "We hope not."

Nicklas Backstrom is improving, according to McPhee.  When asked if the center will be out until the all-star break, he said "not necessarily."  "Obviously, we're being very careful."

That's all for now.

The Washington Capitals annoucned Monday that All-Star defenseman Mike Green, who has missed 33 of the team's 43 games this season, will be out four-to-six weeks as he undergoes abdominal surgery.

Green, who has been out for the majority of the last three months with a groin injury, has led the Capitals to a 9-1-0 record while he is in the lineup.  Washington placed him on long-term injured reserve earlier in the week, which would have meant that the earliest he could re-join the team was February 1st.  He will not be able to play now for at least two weeks beyond that, and probably much longer.

The abdominal surgery does have the goal of fixing Green's groin problem; this is not believed to be a surgery that is the direct result of a new injury.

The Calgary, Alberta native has three goals and three assists in his ten games this year.

Harry Hawkings is a college student who covers the Caps for RtR.  You can follow him on Twitter here and get his practice and game updates.

The Washington Capitals were on ice Monday for an optional skate at Kettler Capitals Iceplex as they prepare for Tuesday night's game with the New York Islanders.  Some notes from Kettler Capitals Iceplex:

Just eight players took the option to skate: Erskine, Kundratek, Eakin, Neuvirth, Perreault, Schultz, Orlov, and Beagle.  They spent the skate in an up-tempo style, doing hard contact drills in the corners and shooting on Neuvirth, who has not started since the day after Christmas.  Neuvirth does not know if he will play one of the two upcoming back to back games, and says that playing without his goalie coach has been exceptionally difficult recently.  Poor kid.

Neither Nicklas Backstrom nor Mike Green skated, and, according to Dale Hunter, they are still "day-to-day."  And yet, they are still nowhere to be found.  Curious.