INSIDE HOCKEY

Columbus Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger ended Sunday’s game against the Washington Capitals by tapping in a pass from Rick Nash in overtime, but the implications of the game extend much further than a 5-4 game in November. By the time the game ended, Alexander Ovechkin, the Capitals’ leading scorer and reigning back-to-back MVP, was already in the locker room, nursing an injury he suffered midway through the second period.

The injury occurred shortly after a post-whistle scrum with Blue Jackets forward Jason Chimera. Ovechkin was skating to his bench when Chimera, who Ovechkin hit hard in the first period, bumped him. Ovechkin shoved back, and the other players on the ice converged and began shoving. Ovechkin and Chimera were given matching roughing penalties, and the Caps superstar appeared to be favoring his left shoulder as he skated to the box. 

When he left the penalty box and finished his shift, he collided with Blue Jackets forward Raffi Torres and used his left arm to brace the fall. He got up and immediately skated to the bench and never returned to the game.

“It was just a moment of the game. Nothing happened. [Jason Chimera] hit me, I hit him,” said Ovechkin, who was not wearing a sling after the game. “It was a little battle over there but nothing happen. I can't tell you how I got hurt. It's day to day, but just in case I didn't go back on the ice."

After the game, head coach Bruce Boudreau said Ovechkin’s injury was an “upper body injury" and agreed that the injury was day-to-day.

With Ovechkin out of the lineup, the game became a shootout. At the time of the injury, the two teams were tied at one.

With 59 seconds left in the second period, however, Umberger gave Columbus the lead with a goal after an odd bounce off the boards. Rick Nash dumped the puck in and as Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore went to play it, it hit a rut in the boards, and bounced right to Umberger in the slot, who put it into the empty net.

The third period opened up with chances for both teams, but the Capitals took over the momentum when Mike Knuble single-handedly killed off a penalty by pinning the puck to the boards in the Blue Jackets' zone.

The effort ignited the team and the crowd, who was quieted by the score and the fact that the leading scorer was out with an injury.

“It can either go one of two ways. You can either say ‘woe is me, our best player is out,’ or you can say, ‘pull together and get the job done,’” forward Brooks Laich said.

It was Laich who tied the game on the power play by slapping in a rebound off a Tom Poti slapshot. Two minutes later, Laich would give the Caps a 3-2 lead by beating Columbus goaltender Steve Mason with a wrist shot from the slot.

The Blue Jackets fought bac, however, and tied the game three minutes later with a wraparound goal by Raffi Torres that brought load groans from the 18,277 at Verizon Center.

The Capitals would tie the game with a goal by the unlikeliest scorer on the team. Forward Quintin Laing, who had missed the previous three games with swine flu and hadn't scored since 2007. He appeared to be the hero, though, when he gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead with less than four minutes remaining.

But with 22.4 seconds left, Torres crashed the party and scored his second goal of the game on a tip-in on the power play. The two teams headed to overtime.

Just 1:33 into the extra session, Capitals defenseman Brian Pothier was called for interference following a rush. Twelve seconds into the ensuing power play, Umberger sent the Capitals home with a loss by putting in a pass by Nash right outside the crease.

Now, not only does the team have to respond to a difficult loss, but it leaves them wondering the severity of their leading scorer’s injury.  If he is out for an extended period of time, other players will have to carry the load for a team that has relied on Ovechkin for so much.

“He’s the best player in the game, so everybody has to step up and fill the hole for him,” said Tomas Fleischmann, who set up the first goal of the game with a great passing play. “We’ll see how it works and it’s just a great opportunity for other guys.”