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ARLINGTON, Va. Authentic Jerseys . -- Amid bright expectations and newfound stability, the Washington Capitals opened training camp Thursday. It didnt take long for the mood to change. Roughly 10 minutes into the opening practice, forward Brooks Laich -- coming off an injury-ruined season -- left the ice at Kettler Iceplex, saying he had a "flare-up" of a strained hip flexor suffered a week ago on his first day in Washington after a summer of successful rehab of a pulled groin. Laich, one of the Capitals locker room leaders, was anxious for the start of camp after playing only nine games last year. "The ice here is a lot softer than the ice I skated on back home (in Saskatchewan), and when I skated here I just tweaked it a little bit," Laich said. "Its completely nonrelated to anything I went through last year and on the other side of my body." Laichs status is day-to-day. Neither general manager George McPhee nor coach Adam Oates sounded particularly concerned. "Hopefully its a day or two," McPhee said. While the injury may not be serious, it is symbolic of a star-crossed team that has consistently underachieved in the post-season. Franchise cornerstones Nicklas Backstrom, 25, Mike Green, 27, and Alex Ovechkin, who turns 28 on Sept. 17, have helped propel Washington to five division titles in the last six years but with no trips to the conference finals. Last years 5-0 loss to the New York Rangers at home in Game 7 of the opening round after leading the series 2-0 was perhaps the teams most embarrassing playoff pratfall. "Weve proven (to) ourselves that were a good team. But we havent proven were a great team," Green said. "The only way to do that is to win a Stanley Cup." Washington hopes that stability will help achieve that goal. The team underwent a radical makeover in the middle of the 2011-12 season when Dale Hunter replaced Bruce Boudreau as coach. There was another difficult transition when Oates took over last summer, with little preseason to install his system due to the NHL lockout. "Last couple of years weve had a little bit of chaos in there as far as knowing where you fit in on the team, knowing where your role is," forward Troy Brouwer said. "This year with very limited spots on the team, everyone kind of knows where they fall in and whats expected of them even before camp starts." On the ice, Washington will look for improvement from young goalies Braden Holtby, 23, and Michal Neuvirth, 24, under the direction of Olie Kolzig. The former Caps great was promoted to head goaltender coach after two seasons with the team in a developmental role. Many of the Caps expressed their approval of the realigned NHL. Washington will play in the Metropolitan Division along with traditional rivals including the New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals open the regular season on Oct. 1 on the road against the NHL champion Chicago Blackhawks, a prospect that doesnt please Brouwer, a former Chicago player who still resides in the city. "I spent a lot of the summer trying to avoid Chicago," Brouwer said. "The worst thing that could happen to me this summer was having to play them opening night and see the banner." NHL Jerseys . With Washington teammate Nene drawing double-teams coming off his big game against the Lakers, Gortat scored 25 points on 11-of-12 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds to lead the Wizards to a 100-92 win in overtime over Milwaukee on Wednesday night. China Jerseys . Grimes signed a $32 million, four-year contract to remain with Miami. The deal, which includes $16 million guaranteed, rewards Grimes for his recovery from an Achilles tendon injury that forced him to miss almost all of the 2012 season. https://www.cheapjerseysjustwholesale.com/ . And it showed Thursday night. The Canadiens, playing in their second game in as many days, however, got a good performance in the end from their backup goaltender as he filled in for an injured Olympic gold medallist .DALLAS -- Chandler Parsons and the Houston Rockets made it two straight over a Texas rival without James Harden. Parsons scored 26 points, and the Rockets almost blew a 12-point lead in the final 4 minutes before hanging on for a 117-115 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night. Seven Rockets scored in double figures on a night when they had just 10 players in uniform. Dwight Howard had 21 points, and Jeremy Lin added 18 and seven assists. "When hes out, we have a more balanced attack," Parsons said of Harden. "We run our sets and get the best shot available. When hes not there, we dont go one-on-one as much." The Mavericks cut a 12-point deficit with 4:08 remaining to just two and had a chance to win, but Jose Calderon missed a pair of 3-point tries in the final seconds. Dirk Nowitzki had 38 points and a season-high 17 rebounds, but was the only Dallas starter in double figures. "We shouldnt be putting ourselves in those situations where were fighting back the whole game," Calderon said. Harden was out again with a bruised left thumb a night after Houston beat San Antonio to answer consecutive losses to Memphis. The win over the Spurs came in a season-high third straight game with fewer than 100 points, but the Rockets broke that streak on a pair of free throws by Parsons with 7:08 remaining. "They were two big games for us, especially after losing two to Memphis," Parsons said. The Rockets, who were also without centres Omer Asik and Greg Smith and forward Francisco Rodriguez, took a double-digit lead with a 9-0 run midway through the fourth quarter. Lin, who also grabbed seven rebounds, had a pair of layups to get the run going. Patrick Beverley finished it with a 3-pointer that made him the seventh double-figure scorer and put Houston up 107-95. Dallas was still down seven with 1:20 remaining when Vince Carter hit a 3-pointer, and Nowitzki made two free throws with 22 seconds left. Calderon knocked away the inbound pass, and the ball went off Houstons Aaron Brooks after he chased it down. With a chance to tie or winn, Nowitzki was working for a shot before deciding to pass to Calderon. Nike Jerseys. His first try from 3 was short and he missed again just before the buzzer after running down the rebound. "We came over to double-team Dirk to make sure Dirk didnt beat us," Rockets coach Kevin McHale said. "Calderon had a look, but fortunately he missed." Donatas Motiejunas had his first career double-double with 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds for the Rockets. Houstons win split the four-game series between the teams and put the Rockets 4 1/2 games ahead of the Mavericks for second place in the Southwest Division. The Spurs are in front. Five days after scoring a career-high 34 points against Memphis, Parsons also had five assists, including an inbound pass for a layup by Brooks with just 0.9 seconds on the shot clock in the third quarter. Howard had a season-low five rebounds but made seven of eight free throws in the last five minutes, most of those with the Mavericks fouling him on purpose to try to get back in the game. He was 9 of 11 from the line. "I dont know how many times they blew by us, but Im glad we started fouling Howard because I was starting to get the chills over there from all of the blow-bys," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "It saved our guys the embarrassment of getting blown by two or three times in a row." Calderon and Monta Ellis combined for 14 points and made just 5 of 22 from the field for Dallas, which got 22 points from Carter and a season-high 14 for the third straight game from Devin Harris. "In true Houston form, we let them come back," Lin said. "Were happy to sneak away with a win. We always seem to let it go down to the wire." Notes: Nowitzki became the 13th player in NBA history with 26,000 points. John Havlicek is next on the scoring list at 26,395. ... Second-year Rockets F Terrence Jones was selected to the Rising Stars challenge over All-Star weekend. The 22-year-old has started 38 games and more than doubled the scoring and rebounding averages from his rookie season. ' ' '