On Monday night, Alex Ovechkin accidentally set his alarm for 8:30 p.m. instead of 8:30 a.m. He overslept Tuesday morning, arriving at Kettler Capitals Iceplex too late to participate in the morning skate. It was then that Coach Barry Trotz informed his team captain that he wouldn’t play that night.
Ovechkin arrived at Verizon Center about an hour before the puck dropped, not unusual for players who been scratched. The Washington Capitals, who had earlier called Ovechkin “a game-time decision,” announced that “personal reasons” had sidelined their star. That led to a flurry of speculation about an undisclosed injury or family emergency, but when Ovechkin returned to practice on Wednesday, those reasons were revealed as disciplinary.