Theodore leaves the ice after being hit by Ovechkin shot

TSN.ca reports:

It has been an eventful two days for Washington Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore.

After being named the Caps' starting netminder for the playoffs and having his credentials questioned by former teammate Tomas Plekanec on Tuesday, Theodore left the ice at practice Wednesday after being hit by a shot by Alex Ovechkin.

Ovechkin's shot hit Theodore in the arm, causing the 33-year old keeper to head to the bench for a brief period. He then returned to the ice before heading to the locker room for the remainder of practice.

While Theodore did not speak to the media following practice, Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau said that Theodore got a "stinger" from being hit by Ovechkin's shot. Boudreau also believes that Theodore should be fine.

The Capitals kick off their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday. It's a game you can catch on TSN and TSNHD starting at 7pm et/4pm pt.

Good. Pile it all on Theo. He's a big boy. He handled all the pressure in the world from the Habs fans while putting up stellar numbers for a team whose leading scorer averaged less than .7 points per game and was a 30 year old Yanic Perreault - he wasn't even in the top 50 that year. Trap hockey my ass, this team just sucked.

Yet, Theo was able to transcend all of this and elevate this team to the 8th seed, upsetting top seed Boston in a very memorable series. Even though they lost in the second round, the point remains: Theodore took a very bad team into the second round of a playoffs they had no business participating in, while under the microscope of a starved Montreal fanbase.

He was run out of town because he didn't win a Cup. Guys, the team sucked. I can't stress this enough. Theo had so much pressure put on him, and still played this well.

Theo needs this kind of pressure for him to play well. He's the official starting goaltender for the best regular season team in the league, had a tumultuous year, has a former teammate questioning his ability, and now this? Good. Let Theo deal with all of the pressure and distractions so he doesn't become his own worst enemy.

Don't sleep on Theodore guys. He's legit, and always has been.