Ovi Playing Hurt?

There may be another added twist to the second round of the playoffs between the Penguins and the Caps. Washington writer, Tarik El-Bashir (Capitals Insider blog), posted another bloggers opinion that Ovi has been playing through an injury he received during some point in the last series against the Rangers.

First, a disclaimer: the following is nothing more than this writer's private opinion. I will not claim to have it on good authority, if my own judgment and powers of observation cannot be considered as such. I do, however, feel confident enough to share my opinion, for what it's worth. And it is as follows: Alexander Ovechkin is playing hurt, and it's a lower-body injury.

Last year, after Game 7 against Philadelphia, Alex admitted in an interview with me that he played the last month or so of the season on painkillers. Whether it was a single injury or an accumulation of aches and pains suffered throughout the season, it was bad enough to hamper him significantly. It would not surprise me in the least to find out that this is the case this year as well ...

Watching Ovechkin skate behind the play in the first round, I couldn't help but notice that he is skating upright pretty much all the time. Alex just doesn't do this, as a rule. The healthy Alex, at least. Now he never pulls up when he is about to hit someone and his shoulders are still heat-seeking missles, so this would tell you his upper body is OK. But the way he skates, the eery similarities between last year and this year - that is a what makes me concerned.

Earlier in the week, El-Bashir reported that Ovechkin did not participate in "a pretty important on-ice practice."

"He'll be practicing tomorrow, okay," Boudreau said. "Sometimes his body gets beat up because he plays so much. He just plays a lot. So he needs a little bit more rest than other guys. So he's just resting today."

When asked why he did not practice today, Ovechkin smiled and said: "Just take more day[s] off."

I'm hearing that Ovechkin's personal trainer from Russia, Dmitry Kapitonov, has come over this week to work with the Caps' star winger. "He's not my doctor, he's my trainer," Ovechkin said when asked why Kapitanov is here.