Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is inching toward being cleared for Wednesday’s regular-season opener against the New York Rangers, but it appears nobody will know about the superstar’s status until right before the puck drops.
Per Tom Gulitti of the NHL’s website, Ovechkin himself confirmed he’s a game-time decision Wednesday because of the lower-body injury he first suffered in last Friday’s preseason finale against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“Yeah. You can write that on the Twitter,” Ovechkin explained.
According to Greg Wyshynski of ESPN, the future Hall of Famer later joked about hurting his “pinkie” toe.
“It was just a little collision. Nothing serious. We’ll see how it goes,” he added.
Ovechkin missed practice on Sunday and Monday but returned to the ice Tuesday for a brief skate. Capitals coach Peter Laviolette made it clear, however, that he’s taking no chances regarding the prolific goal-scorer so early into the campaign.
“Obviously, it’s great to see him out there,” Laviolette said of Ovechkin working during the morning skate. “There was full participation. Now we go back, and we check with the medical department and see where he’s at.”
Washington hosts the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Tampa Bay fell to the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2 in the league’s regular-season opener on Tuesday night.
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