Troy Brouwer took part in Wednesday's practice and he's expected to play Thursday night after sitting out one game with the flu. "Get some fluids in me, hopefully I can eat something in the next day or two," said Brouwer, who didn't play Tuesday after getting sick Monday. "But it's going to be tough for the back to back here." The Capitals play Saturday and Sunday following Thursday's contest.

Troy Brouwer (illness) will not play Tuesday against the Boston Bruins. Brouwer was considered questionable entering the game. Wojtek Wolski, who had been a healthy scratch recently, will likely replace Brouwer on the second line.

Troy Brouwer is sick and did not participate in Tuesday's morning skate. Brouwer is questionable to play Tuesday night against the Bruins. "I'm wondering if just because he played a ton in Winnipeg, right? And then we traveled and the schedule, so he's resting today and hopefully he'll be good tonight. We need him," coach Adam Oates said Tuesday morning. Check back closer to the drop of the puck for official word.

The Capitals might have won 4-3 on Thursday night against the Lightning, but they let the game get too close and many weren't happy about that. The Caps were up 4-1 in the third period, then allowed two goals in the last eight minutes of the game. "We've got to clean it up a little bit," said Troy Brouwer, who recorded his team-high seventh goal. "We made a few mistakes. We've tried to fall back on our systems and make sure that we're doing the right things, but giving up a 4-1 lead and making it a game isn't what we need right now. We thought we had them. Maybe that's the reason why they were able to come back is because we let up a little bit."

The Capitals lost 5-2 Thursday in a game many felt they weren't mentally ready to play. "We weren't ready to play," right wing Troy Brouwer said. "We got hemmed in our zone for the first two shifts, just weren't ready to play, minds weren't in it. That's been our biggest problem. We have mental lapses, and this one happened before the game even started." The Caps are an NHL-worst 2-8-1 on the year.

Troy Brouwer scored his second goal of the season, but the Capitals were beaten by Ottawa by a score of 3-2 Tuesday. The Caps jumped out to a two-goal lead, as Brouwer and Matt Hendricks beat Craig Anderson in the first period, but were not able to solve him again in the game.

Troy Brouwer scored his first goal of the season, but the Capitals dropped a 4-2 decision at home to Winnipeg Tuesday. Brouwer likely isn't a factor in all but the deepest of leagues, but it's not a stretch to think he could be a decent late-round value in those formats. Matt Hendricks also scored a goal in the loss while Nicklas Backstrom recorded a pair of assists.

Troy Brouwer thinks that if the season is to be saved, it'll happen "in the next week or 10 days." The NHL made an extensive proposal recently and the union is expected to make a counteroffer. We might go through another round of proposals after that, but it looks like if the season is to be saved, something will have to get done soon. At this point we're looking at a potential 48-game campaign.

Troy Brouwer said there won't be a season if the owners aren't willing to realistically negotiate. The league canceled regular season games through Jan. 14 on Thursday and the next step is calling off the season, which Brouwer sees as likely if the two sides don't meet and the owners don't budge. "The last time we tried to talk to them they told us to take their offer or we're not talking to you. We're assuming that's still the premise. If they're not willing to talk and get off their offer and start negotiating instead of giving us a take-it-or-leave-it, I don't know if anything's going to happen because obviously the players aren't happy with the last deal they gave us. If there's no room to negotiate and no room to have any movement we might be facing an end-of-the-year stoppage."

Troy Brouwer isn't happy about the comments from two of his teammates criticizing the NHLPA and its stance during the lockout. Roman Hamrlik said he was "disgusted" and suggested NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr be removed there's no season, while Michal Neuvirth supported his view and said the lockout was about "several superstars with big contracts." "Those are two guys that have never been on a conference call, never been to a meeting, never paid attention," Brouwer said. "People are going to have their own opinions but when you're fighting for something with 700 other guys, all you're doing is just making it harder to make a deal and making it harder to accomplish the things we're fighting for. For me, I think those guys selling us out, being selfish like that and making those comments ... Me being on their team, how am I going to trust them as a teammate from now on? Because you know they're not going to support players in the big scheme of things when you go and you play on the team with them; it's going to be tough to want to back those guys from now on."