The big news of the day is that defenseman Mike Green returned to the ice with the team for about 25 minutes before leaving practice. Green said after the skate that he is feeling a lot better, but there is still no timetable for his return to the Caps' lineup. He hopes to get a full practice under his belt sometime this week, but will not rush, as the playoffs are what is important at this point. I must say I agree; with DC having clinched a playoff berth, the Caps need him at full strength in April.
Alex Ovechkin and Jason Arnott returned to full practice with the team in full pads, skating on the "fifth" line with Jay Beagle. They took contact and skated in full drills with their teammates. Ovechkin said after practice that he feels good, and thinks he should be good to go tomorrow, but it is not his decision. Jason Arnott says that he is making good progress, and will take the morning skate tomorrow before a decision is made on his status. Arnott did say, however, that he thinks it's "realistic" to expect both he and Ovechkin in the lineup by the end of the week.
The forward lines were as follows; Sturm-Backstrom-Semin, Chimera-Johansson-Knuble, Hendricks-Laich-Fehr, King-Gordon-Bradley, and the aforementioned "fifth" line of Ovechkin-Arnott-Beagle. Michal Neuvirth also returned to the ice after being scratched this weekend with an illness; Bruce Boudreau indicated that he should be ready to at least back up tomorrow night. Tom Poti continued to skate with the team for a full practice, but there is still no timetable for his return to the Washington lineup despite the fact that he is "getting better."
That's all for now. In other reading from 24/7 today, I take a look at potential first-round playoff opponents for the Caps.
Thanks to Sky Kerstein and Katie Carrera for info used in this post.
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