Erskine may be out for the caps.
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Erskine Is Questionable for Game 2
The big news out here at KCI today was the recall of defensemen Karl Alzner and Tyler Sloan. Suspicions were raised last night when both players were surprise scratches for a playoff game in Hershey, and those suspicions were confirmed a little more than an hour ago when they took part in the Caps' morning skate.
Coach Bruce Boudreau wouldn't say whether either will get into the lineup tonight against the Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. But there's a pretty good chance that one of them will suit up because John Erskine is "questionable" with an apparent leg injury (suffered when he took a shot on Saturday).
Alzner and Sloan - together they are Hershey's top 'D' pair - are technically emergency recalls, according to Boudreau, because they are filling in for Erskine and Jeff Schultz (back).
"We've only had six healthy defensemen up here and I think we were playing with fire if someone would go down in warm-up," Boudreau said. "We've got John banged up a little bit. He's going to try it and see if he can go. But we figured we take precautionary measures and call up a couple of guys just in case. If we had to go to one, they both know our systems as well as anyone."
Boudreau also conceded that he might have made a call up anyway. After looking pretty good against the Rangers, it was pretty apparent that the Caps 'D' corps could benefit from another mobile defensemen (or two) to keep up with the Pens' speedy and skilled forwards.
"Especially at one point in this series we might have to go back-to-back so we want them to get acclimated to us," Boudreau said. "They're here for today and probably on a continued basis."
When deciding which Hershey defensemen to recall, Boudreau joked that he called Bears Coach Bob Woods and asked which of them had the best playoff beards.
For the record, both Alzner and Sloan have scruffy beards.
Sloan said he found out about the recall late yesterday.
"I don't know anything right now," he said. "We've just been told that it's precautionary in case anything happens. I was going to rink for meetings, then went home for some rest and a nap and got a phone call saying, 'Stay home, you're sick. And your partner caught the flu.'"
Alzner cracked: "We had the 12 hour flu."
Seems to be a lot of that going around the NHL these days.
The big news out here at KCI today was the recall of defensemen Karl Alzner and Tyler Sloan. Suspicions were raised last night when both players were surprise scratches for a playoff game in Hershey, and those suspicions were confirmed a little more than an hour ago when they took part in the Caps' morning skate.
Coach Bruce Boudreau wouldn't say whether either will get into the lineup tonight against the Penguins in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. But there's a pretty good chance that one of them will suit up because John Erskine is "questionable" with an apparent leg injury (suffered when he took a shot on Saturday).
Alzner and Sloan - together they are Hershey's top 'D' pair - are technically emergency recalls, according to Boudreau, because they are filling in for Erskine and Jeff Schultz (back).
"We've only had six healthy defensemen up here and I think we were playing with fire if someone would go down in warm-up," Boudreau said. "We've got John banged up a little bit. He's going to try it and see if he can go. But we figured we take precautionary measures and call up a couple of guys just in case. If we had to go to one, they both know our systems as well as anyone."
Boudreau also conceded that he might have made a call up anyway. After looking pretty good against the Rangers, it was pretty apparent that the Caps 'D' corps could benefit from another mobile defensemen (or two) to keep up with the Pens' speedy and skilled forwards.
"Especially at one point in this series we might have to go back-to-back so we want them to get acclimated to us," Boudreau said. "They're here for today and probably on a continued basis."
When deciding which Hershey defensemen to recall, Boudreau joked that he called Bears Coach Bob Woods and asked which of them had the best playoff beards.
For the record, both Alzner and Sloan have scruffy beards.
Sloan said he found out about the recall late yesterday.
"I don't know anything right now," he said. "We've just been told that it's precautionary in case anything happens. I was going to rink for meetings, then went home for some rest and a nap and got a phone call saying, 'Stay home, you're sick. And your partner caught the flu.'"
Alzner cracked: "We had the 12 hour flu."
Seems to be a lot of that going around the NHL these days.
