They looked great for about 50-52 minutes and then stopped forechecking and decided to play defense. That can't happen. I thought Alexyev played prettty well so maybe they won't miss Marty as much as feared.
I notice from the roster listings that Alexeyev is up to 230 lbs. I presume he will continue to be TVR's partner, which is fine, because TVR is a 3rd pair D anyway and he is on the lighter side.
I also noticed a couple of things about Ovechkin: Last night he played 16:45 in an overtime game, and his shifts averaged about 45 seconds, which is low for him. I wonder if Carbery is going to pick Ovie's spots somewhat to help keep him fresher, and emphasize to him to get off the ice quicker when an offensive play isn't developing toward the end of his shift. Also, it seems that the Caps are bringing Ovechkin into the offensive zone late on PP's, seemingly trying to hide him, because the PK has to pick up the first guys entering the zone.