PITTSBURGH -- Recovering from a stroke, Pittsburgh Penguins defenceman Kris Letang said his doctors have reassured him that hell be play hockey again. Torey Krug Authentic Jersey . When that could happen is unclear. The 26-year-old Letang spoke to the media before the Penguins faced Montreal on Thursday night, the first time he has spoken to reporters since having the stroke on a West Coast trip before the Olympic break. "Im targeting it day-by-day," Letang said. "Im trying to improve every day I come here. I try to exercise the best I can. I see doctors pretty much every week, twice a week to get better. So well go from there." Doctors are treating Letang with blood thinners and he has been doing light exercises without weights. "(Doctors) said being 26 and having a stroke, its actually a small percentage, but the chance that I get back to normal is really high," Letang said. "Well take the decision from there, but for now, were keeping like this. ... Im going day-by-day to get to 100 per cent," Letang said. "I feel like Im trying to make steps and getting closer to coming back at one point." The last month has been particularly difficult for his family. "When you see your mom crying or your wife, any of my family members, its always a tough thing to handle," Letang said. "Everbody is really careful, like I cant even lift the luggage without them trying to help me out. Otherwise its just been mentally tough a little bit." Letang said his wife found him on the ground the morning before the team flew to Los Angeles and his mother-in-law, who is a nurse and was also on the trip, took care of him. "I was not able to function," Letang said. "The day before I was totally fine, I was practicing. I woke up and didnt expect that would happen. I went in the car and went to Los Angeles and thought it would clear up but it never did." Letang, from Montreal, has 54 goals and 173 assists in 419 games in eight seasons with the Penguins. He signed a $58 million, eight-year contract extension last summer, but has been plagued by injuries this season, missing 19 games with an elbow infection and a lower-body injury before the stroke. Letangs most recent game was Jan. 27 against Buffalo. After being a Norris Trophy finalist last season, he has 10 goals -- matching a career high -- and 18 assists in 34 games for the Eastern Conference-leading Penguins. "Im not going to say its not a really good season for me," Letang said. "Two of (my injuries) were kind of bad luck, but honestly, if I have the chance to come back this year and play, its going to be great. I want to make sure I forget all about the three-quarters of the season I missed." Milan Lucic Authentic Jersey .ca NBA Power Rankings, but there are changes among those teams in pursuit. Milan Lucic Bruins Jersey . The Italian came from behind to overtake Jarlinson Pantano in the final 50 metres and edge out Dario Cataldo on the line after a climb to the sanctuary of Oropa, the scene of Marco Pantanis memorable victory in 1999.RALEIGH, N.C. -- With his latest milestone within reach, Alex Ovechkin caught himself pressing and overthinking his play. All of a sudden, his path to history was clear. Ovechkin scored his 400th career goal into an empty net after the Washington Capitals had three power-play goals in the second period of a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night. "I had a couple of chances to score, and they were good ones, but maybe I tried to make more moves than I usually do," Ovechkin said. "(An) empty-netter is (an) empty-netter. Of course I (thought) about it, but its over and its time to move on." Troy Brouwer, Marcus Johansson and John Carlson scored with the man advantage and Nicklas Backstrom assisted on all four goals to help the second-place Capitals win for the fifth time in their last seven games. Ovechkins empty-netter with 24.5 seconds left in his 634th career game made him the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to reach No. 400 and the seventh active player with that many. "As we all know, hes a pretty good goal-scorer," Backstrom said. "Its always fun to see a player accomplish something big and I think 400 goals in however many games he has, its great. We all know hes a great player." Jordan Staal and Riley Nash scored for Carolina while Cam Ward stopped 25 shots. The Hurricanes had earned at least a point in six of their previous seven games. But theyve dropped four of five with the loss to the Caps. "Five-on-5, we were all over them," Staal said. "We were the better team, 5-on-5. But three power-play goals, you cant let that happen. Thats not good enough, obviously, and thats how you lose games." Washingtons Philipp Grubauer matched a season high with 39 saves -- and got some help from the choppy ice after Alexander Semins shot with about 6 minutes left trickled just wide of the net. The Capitals have the leagues second-best power-play unit with a success rate of nearly 25 per cent. They converted all three of their chances in the second. ";You dont want to have to rely on it, but whenever its going to power you through games, absolutely you want to rely on it," Brouwer said of the power play. Reilly Smith Authentic Jersey. A fortunate bounce helped the Capitals reclaim the lead at 3-2 with 4:31 left in the period: Mike Green broke his stick while dribbling a shot up the middle that clipped Brouwer on its way past Ward. "When it comes slower, obviously I get a better touch on it," Brouwer said. "I had my stick halfway up my body thinking it was going to be a higher shot because thats where he usually likes to shoot. Its almost a weird adjustment where you dont ever practice having to put your stick back down on the ice." That capped a big period for the Capitals power play. Johansson tied it 41 seconds into the second when he stuffed the puck between Wards left leg and the post. Carlson put the Capitals up 2-1 with 11:26 left -- and just 14 seconds into a holding minor on Tuomo Ruutu -- when his straightaway blast from just inside the blue line got past Ward. Carolina, which has the leagues third-worst power play, made it 2-all 2:42 later by scoring on the man advantage, with Nash making the most of Andrej Sekeras rebound. But it couldnt convert late after Carlson went off for hooking with 4:50 to play, despite peppering Grubauer with a barrage of shots from close range. The Hurricanes were playing for the first time since Dec. 14, when they wrapped up a four-point, four-game western swing with a win at Phoenix. Staal put the Hurricanes up 1-0 with 2:48 left in the first when he scored on a one-touch pass from Semin, who played seven years with the Capitals before signing with Carolina in July 2012. "We did a good job of getting after him and getting shots and getting opportunities," Staal said. "We just didnt bury them." NOTES: The Hurricanes scratched D Mike Komisarek (lower-body injury) after activating him from injured reserve earlier in the day. ... Semins point was his first since his Dec. 12 return from a concussion that cost him 12 games. ' ' '
