NHL Updates: Ovechkin and Vokoun

Tomas Vokoun actually rejoined his teammates on the flight back home to Ft. Lauderdale. He got his left ear laceration stitched and, fortunately, there was no concussion or inner-ear damage. According to the Panthers coach, Peter DeBoer, they will be making some arrangements for a back-up for Clemmensen until Vokoun returns, but it won't be any significant time.

"As soon as we can rig something up that he can get his helmet around that ear so he can play, he'll be ready," Panthers coach Peter DeBoer said on Tuesday's conference call. "It's not going to be long term."

Keith Ballard will not be facing suspension.

"It's a non-factor," DeBoer said. "This guy was visibly shaken and upset by the incident in the game. When we found out that Tomas was going to be fine I think he gutted it out and played the rest of the night for us. Tomas got on the plane and they had a chance to chat and sit together and there were no hard feelings.

Ovechkin, on the other hand, should and will face disciplinary action for his knee-on-knee hit on Carolina's Tim Gleason. The NHL has suspended him for two games, but the frustrating part of it is that he's out of the lineup for that amount of time anyway to recover from the injury he sustained from the hit. He reported that his knee is sore and is not serious and was back on the ice yesterday in a red, "no contact" uniform. This is his first suspension of his NHL career and hopefully not his last if he continues this behavior on the ice. Although, his coach may have learned a lesson for him seeing as how he seems to have had a "change of heart" with letting Ovechkin continue this type of play.

Coach Bruce Boudreau isn't so sure anymore. After two years of essentially letting Ovechkin be Ovechkin, Boudreau said it might be time for a heart-to-heart talk.

"He's pretty reckless," he said. "It's hard telling a guy that scores 60 goals a year to change the way he plays. At the same time, I don't want to see him getting hurt. Maybe he has to pick his spots a little better. The open-ice hits, you just look around the league. It's not only the hitter, it's the guy that gets hit. ... It's something that will have to be addressed by us, I guess. ... Not only as a coach, but as somebody who admires him, I just don't want him to put himself in harm's way, so we'll see."

Well it's about damn time Boudreau!! We'll just see who has the last say though.