Washington Capitals Lose Alex Ovechkin One Shift Into Return

The Washington Capitals welcomed back Alex Ovechkin to their lineup with open arms and unfortunately the latest comeback lasted only one shift. OV left Monday night's game against the New York Rangers in the first period due to a lower-body injury.

The original injury occurred five games ago and after a couple of weeks off the Capitals thought they were getting back their sniper for good and unfortunately that wasn't the case at all. The team was already shorthanded on Monday night as both Ilya Samsonov and Evgeny Kuznetsov were out of the lineup due to disciplinary reasons. Throw in TJ Oshie being out for personal family reasons and Justin Schultz missing the game with a lower-body injury, makes you wonder how the hell the Caps beat the Rangers 6-3.

As for Ovechkin, he's scored 24 goals and recorded 18 assists in 43 games so far this season. The team mentioned he didn't feel comfortable after hitting the ice against the Rangers and at this time of the season, it's better to be safe than sorry. Expect the team to keep OV out of the lineup until playoff time.