Bruins injuries mount; Rival those of Caps

Call the nurse, we have a bleeder.

It appears that the hemorrhaging that the Capitals suffered at the hands of the injury bug through the month of December has now befallen on other teams.

Most notably the Boston Bruins (and Pittsburgh Penguins).

Boston will limp into the Verizon Center tonight without the likes of Patrice Bergeron, Marco Sturm or Phil Kessel. Bergeron is suffering from his second concussion in as many years (Brian Pothier called to say hello), while Sturm underwent surgery on his meniscus and anterior cruciate ligament, and will be out for the season.

Kessel, meanwhile, has a case of mononucleosis (more generally known as mono). While it is unclear when Bergeron will return to the line-up, Kessel is tabled to be back in mid-February.

The Bruins will also be missing shutdown defenseman Andrew Ference, who's broken tibia will keep him sidelined at least a few more games.

Aaron Ward will also be out until at least the 19th with a charley horse.

Finally, Milan Lucic rounds out the list of the battered and bruised with an undisclosed injury that is keeping him out of the line-up.

Sound familiar? Well, if you've been following the Capitals it should.

I for one cannot recall the last time the Capitals played with a fully healthy line-up, but I would have to assume it wasn't long into the month of October before the injury carosel was fired up.

However, for the most part, Washington is begining to get healthy for the second half of the season.

Tom Poti is close to making a return while Brian Pothier will be seeking clearance to return to the ice next week. Boyd Gordon and Shaone Morrisonn are both out, but neither of them are suffering from anything too serious.

The key to success will be staying healthy down the stretch as teams such as Boston, Pittsburgh and Montreal all seem to be going through the motions that this team saw in December.

Washington, so far- has weathered the storm. Only time will tell if these other Eastern Conference teams will be able to do the same.

NOTE: In Wednesday night's game, the Capitals took four (Crosby, Letang, Talbot, Scuderi) Penguins out of the line-up, and all are questionable for tonight's game versus the New York. Rangers

The Walking Wounded return to D.C.

Just when things couldn't get much worse for the Capitals in terms of injuries, they did.

Closing out a five game road trip that saw the club go 1-3-1, including losing the last three in a row, Washington suffered their biggest blow last night in Minnesota, losing three more players in a 4-3 loss.

Jeff Schultz, Boyd Gordon and John Erskine all left the game due to injuries. Schultz suffers from the most serious ailment, breaking a finger which will sideline him for 4-6 weeks.

Gordon and Erskine are now both listed as day-to-day, joining fellow teammates Mike Green, Alexander Semin, and Sergei Fedorov.

Both Green and Semin should be ready to return to the line-up for either Wednesday or Friday's games, while Fedorov is still uncertain.

The loss of Schultz is particularly concerning, given the total lack of cap space and healthy defenders. It is rumored that he will be placed on LTIR (Long Term Injury Reserve) where he will join Brian Pothier who is suffering a career threatening concussion.


Being placed on the LTIR would mean that Schultz must remain out of the line-up for both 24 days and 10 games, slating his return for late December.

It is likely that Erskine will play through his soreness as Sami Lepisto is the likely candidate to be called up from Hershey to fill in for Schultz.

The Capitals now return home to face the Atlanta Thrashers in the hopes of breaking a three game regulation losing streak, the longest in Bruce Boudreau's tenure as coach.

More information on the Capitals injury bug can be followed on Tarik El-Bashir's blog, an excellent source for up to date team news.

Pre-Game Thoughts: 10/10/08 Capitals at Thrashers

As the clock pushes it's way past 12 A.M., the dawn of the 2008-09 Washington Capitals season will be upon us. This off-season has been relatively busy for the Caps, all while trying to mold a Stanley Cup contender. Out are goalies Christobal Huet and legendary Olaf Kolzig, heading to Chicago and Tampa Bay respectively.

Washington's big acquisition this year is Jose Theodore, who is expected to carry a heavy load this year if the Capitals are to succeed.

The fowards and defense remains much the same, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, Boyd Gordon, Eric Fehr, Sergei Fedorov have all signed contract extensions, and it appears this team is heading in the right direction.

The opposite is the case for Atlanta. After trading away superstar Marian Hossa at last years trade deadline, and failed to replace his scoring touch during the free agent period. They do not possess a particularly deep roster, and will look to rookie defenseman Zach Bogosian to play important minutes with the rest of this pitiable defensive corps.

That being said, Washington will still have to find a way to limit the playing time of John Erskine and Milan Jurcina in order to succeed. Both had disappointing pre-seasons and were vastly outplayed by rookie Karl Alzner, but the team felt it was best for Alzner to play more minutes in the AHL.

The clock will be ticking on the JURSKINE combination and it might not be long before either; or both, are replaced. But if the past 7 games are any indication, we should be in for a high scoring season from these upstart Caps.

It begins now.