NHL Rankings: Looking out for No. 1
The Washington Capitals announced Monday that Alex Ovechkin will sit out for the next 7-10 days with what Mike Vogel of washingtoncaps.com calls a "nagging ailment."
Ovechkin's absence couldn't really come at a better time for Washington, which has surged up the Eastern Conference standings in the past month and sports a sterling 9-1-0 record in its last 10 games. The Capitals are two points out of Michael Oher Jerseys
first in the conference, behind only the Philadelphia Flyers. Those two meet on Tuesday in Philly.
And would it be so bad to lose that game? Washington has been the top seed in the East for the past two seasons. In the playoffs, that yielded the Caps a second-round exit against Pittsburgh (2009) and an embarrassing first-round defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens (2010).
A loss Tuesday would give the Flyers a four-point buffer on top of the conference. As far as the Caps are concerned, maybe it's time to give No. 2 a shot?