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Nov 5, 2009 - 11:33 PM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Washington (8-3-4) at Florida (5-7-1), 7:30 p.m. EDT

After the Washington Capitals' first game without Alex Ovechkin, coach Bruce Boudreau thought his team might have concentrated too much on the two-time defending MVP's absence.

As they attempt to snap a three-game slide, the Capitals will likely have to play without Ovechkin again during a home-and-home series with the surging Florida Panthers that begins Friday night.

Ovechkin is considered "week to week" after suffering an upper-body injury, believed to be his shoulder, in Sunday's 5-4 overtime loss to visiting Columbus. He practiced for the first time Thursday, but said afterward he might need a little more time to heal.

"I'll probably miss tomorrow and the next game too," Ovechkin said. "I hope it's going to be better. I miss (playing). It's not my thing to sit in the press box and watch the game."

Ovechkin missed only his fifth game in five seasons Wednesday night, and Washington dropped to 1-4-0 all-time without him with a 3-2 defeat at New Jersey.

After taking an early lead, the Capitals (8-3-4) allowed the Devils to score three straight times - twice in the final 8:40.

"Guys didn't come to play," Boudreau said. "Whether they are feeling sorry for themselves because Alex is not in, I don't know. Same thing happened last year when we went into Buffalo and got smoked 5-0 when he wasn't there.

"This isn't a one-man team, but those guys have got to understand that. People can get hurt at any moment."

With 14 goals in 14 games, Ovechkin has accounted for more than a quarter of Washington's scoring, and he had five of the Capitals' 14 goals last season as they split six meetings with the Panthers.

Washington will now face a Florida team that's found its scoring punch during a season-high three-game win streak, outscoring opponents 13-5.

Steven Reinprecht has four goals and two assists in those victories, notching his first hat trick for his new team in a 6-5 shootout win at Dallas on Oct. 30. Reinprecht added a goal and an assist in Wednesday night's 3-0 victory over visiting Carolina.

"We've been crashing the net, getting pucks there, things have been bouncing around and getting lucky," said Reinprecht, whose team-leading nine goals have all come in the last eight games. "When you go to the net, sometimes you get bounces."

Tomas Vokoun posted back-to-back shutouts for the fourth time in his career Wednesday after winning 4-0 at St. Louis on Saturday. Vokoun enters Friday's game with a career-best 142:03 scoreless streak.

He hasn't posted a shutout in 16 games against the Capitals, allowing at least two goals in each of his last eight matchups - losing six. Vokoun will likely play just one of the weekend games against Washington with Scott Clemmensen taking the other.

The Capitals might do the same with Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov, who has never faced the Panthers (5-7-1). Theodore allowed a season-high six goals in Washington's previous trip to Florida on April 11, a 7-4 loss.

These teams play again Saturday night at the Verizon Center.