Caps, Ovi ready to star on HBO's '24/7' tonight

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Alex Ovechkin doesn't plan to stick around Verizon Center for too long after Wednesday night's game against Anaheim. The Capitals captain has a date with HBO at his friend's apartment that he doesn't want to miss.
 
The highly anticipated documentary "24/7 Penguins-Capitals: Road to the Winter Classic" debuts on HBO on Wednesday night at 10 p.m. ET with an encore showing at 11 p.m. Ovechkin isn't deterred that the cameras have caught his team at its absolute worst -- right in the heart of a six-game losing streak, Washington's longest since March of 2007.
 
"You know, it's a moment (in the season) that has happened already, so it is what it is," Ovechkin told NHL.com. "I hope we're going to win today and have a good feeling (when we watch the show)."
 
Four of the five Capitals polled at the morning skate -- Ovechkin, Matt Bradley, John Erskine and David Steckel -- said they were either going to try to catch the 11 p.m. encore or make sure their TIVOs or DVRs were running so they could watch it another time. Only Brooks Laich said he has no interest in seeing the show.
 
Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said what happens against the Ducks will determine if he watches Wednesday night.
 
"Watching anything is predicated on how we do," Boudreau said. "It all depends on where you are here, in the standings, in the game, where your game is at. It's like in the past, when I was playing, I could watch those games. When I was with the Leafs and we were losing eight, nine in a row -- that wouldn't bother me now. So it's not going to bother me if I watch it as long as we're winning."
 
Ovechkin got a sneak preview Tuesday. He was shown a segment that included Washington's 7-0 loss Sunday night at Madison Square Garden, the franchise's worst loss since an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Penguins on Jan. 25, 2006.
 
"It was pretty interesting because of how we look over there," Ovechkin said.
 
He wasn't talking about how the Caps looked on the ice in comparison to the Rangers.
 
"You can see how guys are intense, how they concentrate, and how we're different," Ovechkin said. "In the locker room you don't see how different you are and right now you're going to see yourself and you're going to think, 'Is it me over there?' You're so concentrating on the game all the time. It's kind of cool."
 
Ovechkin said it wasn't difficult for him to watch. It was interesting because he tried to watch it as a fan, not a player.
 
"You never see (on camera) what you do in the locker room, what you do on the plane," he said. "It's a lot different. I really liked it. I enjoyed it, actually. I think people are going to like it."
 
Boudreau isn't so sure how he'll feel when he sees himself on the screen.
 
"The one thing if I could take back, I wish I wasn't swearing as much," he said. "I think I'm cursing more than I would want my son to hear me curse, but at the same time the show has caught us at probably the worst point that it could have caught us, at least the first portion of it. So I was madder than most times."
 
Steckel, who is planning to set his TIVO, understands why Capitals fans might cringe while watching because HBO will be showing their favorite team in its most unstable moments. However, Steckel doesn't expect the losing streak will change his viewing experience.
 
"It's harder to live through than it will be to watch, I'll tell you that much," Steckel told NHL.com. "It might be just as painful for people to watch, but obviously we're not at our best and on the same hand Pittsburgh is playing really well. So, yeah, it's definitely going to be two different stories and it should be pretty entertaining for fans that don't get to see the behind-the-scenes look, which is what this is aimed to do. I would expect nothing but the best from HBO."
 
Like fans, these Capitals just want to be entertained.
 
"It's not going to change how I come to the rink and prepare and how I feel about our team," Bradley told NHL.com. "It's entertainment, and that's how it's going to be. I just hope I don't look foolish on TV."
 
Follow Dan Rosen on Twitter at: @drosennhl