Marco Sturm and Alex Ovechkin were both absent from the practice; they took maintenance days and will play this evening. Jay Beagle and Semyon Varlamov were also absent, as Beagle is working his way back from an undisclosed upper body injury, and Varlamov is sidelined with what is believed to be knee ailment. Braden Holtby, who recently recovered from an injury of his own, has been recalled to DC to back up Michal Neuvirth, which means that Todd Ford has been returned to Hershey of the AHL.
Tom Poti took the full morning skate, another encouraging sign, but said after practice that the cortisone shot that he received last week has not kicked in to help his injured groin heal. As a result, he is still not allowed to do contact drills, and though he will accompany the team on their weekend road trip to Florida, it is very unlikely that he plays. Eric Fehr is getting closer, too, but will not play tonight and may travel to Florida. The Capitals' healthy scratches have been confirmed as DJ King and Tyler Sloan.
An update from Blues camp - Ty Conklin, and not Ben Bishop, will start in nets for the Blues this evening. Conklin, who was recently placed on waivers by St. Louis but was not claimed, has a 3.11 GAA and a .884 Save% in 16 starts this year.
That's all for now; check back after the game. For a preview of tonight's game, click here. For my thoughts on Mike Green and his injury, click here.
Thanks to Katie Carrera for some information used in this post.
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