With just eight days until the start of the regular season, Washington Capitals Coach Bruce Boudreau dressed a lineup on Friday against Buffalo that will be very close to the one he ices on opening night on October 8th against Carolina. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff played a crew that will very much resemble his regular season roster and the result was an excellent pre-season game that had intensity to it. The Caps rallied with a third period goal with some inspired play and ended up winning the contest in a shootout, 4-3. Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green, and Matt Hendricks notched goals for Washington while Tomas Vanek and Jason Pominville had two tallies and one, respectively, for the visitors. Backstrom won the game in the shootout in the 6th round after Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin scored earlier in the gimmick.

Here are the quotes and analysis from a contest that provided a good benchmark of where the Caps are at with the NHL regular season just around the corner:

- The Capitals were extremely sloppy in their own end for the first 40 minutes and struggled with some turnovers and even worse, poor coverage. Low percentage clear outs were attempted and Buffalo players were given too much time and space on numerous occassions. It was clear that new goalie Tomas Vokoun is still trying to learn how the guys in front of him are going to play in the defensive end. For a goalie, knowing where the shots are going to come from is so critical and #29 is still figuring that out. The good news is that in the third period Washington really was solid in their defensive zone and Buffalo actually didn’t register a shot on net until past the period’s middpoint. Boudreau had a theory as to why things changed in the last portion of regulation.

“On the two goals that were scored against us there is still the newness of communication between Tomas [Vokoun] and the defense and I think on both of those goals, and we talked about it between periods, there was a miscommunication. Whether it was handling the puck, letting it go, defense in front ‘should I block?’, ‘should I not?’ Once we got that straightened around I thought they played a really good third period.”

Ovechkin also talked about the importance of playing well in their own end this year.

“The defensive zone is the most important thing for us. …Every time you have to play careful in your zone. We just give more attention to details in the preseason,” said the two time NHL MVP.

- Offensively the Capitals did a good job of putting the heat on the Buffalo defense. The Caps, despite being outshot for two periods, did have quite a few quality chances only to be denied by all world goalie Ryan Miller on a few occassions. Troy Brouwer played on a line with Ovechkin and the two of them did a nice job of forechecking and taking the body, which helped wear down a very good Sabres blue line crew.

“I thought the energy and the forechecking in the first two periods was pretty good as well. We got the results in the third period but I think a lot of it was because we worked hard in the first two periods, but it was consistent for 60 minutes, which we hadn’t done,” added Boudreau.

- The Capitals went 1 for 5 on the power play but there were noticeable differences to the way the unit plays from a year ago. The focus is clearly to get the puck to the top center portion of the point and fire away with traffic in front of the opposing goaltender. The past reliance on slick cross ice passes for one timers with the man advantage appears to be gone. There are still outstanding passes made by highly skilled guys, as evidenced by Green’s superb off the boards back pass to Ovechkin on the Caps second tally, but getting in position for rebounds is clearly now the recipe for success.

“I knew Alex was behind and I dragged the guy to me. I just had to make sure I bounced it hard enough so that he could get it because he is a right handed shot or else it would have been in his skates. He made a great shot and it was laying there and I decided to poke it in,” said Green describing his goal, that was set up by difficult bank pass.

“We are not going to give away any of our secrets. We have our game plan and [crashing the net] is a piece of it but we even have to be better. The fortunate thing is we have a lot of guys who can play. It’s not just one line anymore, it’s two, even three units that can play,” finished the Calgary native on the Caps power play.

“It’s hard to score in this league and when you are playing against Ryan Miller, it’s even harder. So you better go to the net if you want to score,” commented Boudreau on the net crashing strategy.

- Here are some quick thoughts on the performances of individual players in this tilt:

• Ovechkin was into this contest, especially in the third period when he was throwing his body around. The Gr8 had two assists, although it looked to me like he scored the second goal that was credited to #52 (Boudreau said the same thing after the contest).
• Marcus Johansson looked very good in this game as he starts his sophomore campaign. He continues to be a dominant skater and he is even stronger on the puck this year.
• We always hear about how hard Joel Ward works but he is also a very smart hockey player with superb hockey sense. In the third period one of his best plays came in the neutral zone on a cross ice pass. #42 had two cross ice options on the play, one which was very high risk, high reward but needed to be threaded perfectly so it would not be intercepted, or another more orthogonal pass that would be very effective, but safer. Ward chose the later and it resulted in a scoring chance for Washington. The former Predators forward is clearly a guy that can play pretty much with anyone and is going to make his line a positive factor in the game.
• Backstrom had the first goal after a good feed from Ovechkin and after an even better breakout pass by Brouwer. #19 buried that chance but I still am not seeing the burst of speed and superior skating ability that I saw from him in 2009-10. As for Brouwer, he was excellent in this contest. He went to the net to create traffic and added two helpers. He did have the occassional defensive zone lapse but that was corrected by period three.
• For the Sabres, Vanek continues to show that he is a top notch player but the man who stood out for them was offseason free agent acquisition Christian Ehroff. #10 was superb running the Buffalo attack and he was +2 with a goal and an assist. If he stays healthy the Sabres should be a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference.
• The Caps tying goal was a thing of beauty. Jeff Halpern won the faceoff to Jay Beagle, who slid it back to Green at the point. #52 fired the biscuit at Miller while the Washington players crashed the net. The American goaltending star then gave up an uncharacteristic big rebound in the slot that Hendricks slid by the Michigan State alum. It was a hard working tally right off of a faceoff, something coaches love to have.
• Given what I saw tonight and from preseason observations, I think that the 12 forwards who dressed tonight, minus Cody Eakin, will make the final roster, which is due on Tuesday at 3pm. Eakin needs a full year in the AHL to mature physically and play lots of minutes. Mike Knuble, who was rested on Friday, would be one of the top 12. Mathieu Perreault did not play on Friday but I see him making the club as an additional forward. #85 has had a strong preseason plus he would have to go through waivers if he was attempted to be sent down to Hershey (Eakin can go to the Bears without GM George McPhee worrying about a waiver claim). The six defensemen who dressed tonight, Green, John Carlson, Dennis Wideman, Jeff Schultz, Roman Hamrlik, and Karl Alzner, will be the opening night blue liners unless there is an injury.

Notes: Chris Bourque, Sean Collins, and Patrick McNeill were waived and sent to Hershey…Collins could be recalled for the opener as the seventh d-man if John Erskine is still not ready to play…Washington outshot the Sabres 32-24, largely due to a 15-3 advantage in the third period…the Capitals lost the faceoff battle 33-32 with MJ90 going 4-9…the Caps killed off all four Sabres power plays. Washington’s next and final preseason game is on Sunday at 5 pm from the Verizon Center against the Chicago Blackhawks.

The streets of Charm City were filled with fans decked out in red and the energy in 1st Mariner Arena was super, but unfortunately the Washington Capitals were unable to score any goals in the inaugural Baltimore Hockey Classic and lost, 2-0, to the Nashville Predators. An announced sellout crowd of over 11,000 witnessed the first professional hockey game at the arena since the Baltimore Bandits left for Cincinnati in 1997. It was a super event for the city of Baltimore and something that Caps Owner Ted Leonsis and General Manager George McPhee felt was a good idea to do given the growing Capitals fan base just 30+ miles up the BW Parkway.

“We’re thrilled to bring Washington Capitals hockey to the Baltimore market. Tuesday’s game will pump revenue into the local economy and serve as a great public-private partnership between the city and the Capitals,” said McPhee of the event.

There is no doubt the local businesses in the area received a spike from this game and despite the fact that the ice conditions weren’t exactly stellar - I don’t think anyone is going to confuse that surface with Rexall Place – it was indeed a great night to be a part of.

Now onto the game itself and the all important quotes and analysis from what was a pretty sloppy game due to the heat and humidity in the building.

- When the ice is the way it was on Tuesday, the team that simplifies and minimizes their mistakes usually wins. Nashville did that as their two tallies came as a result of Washington defensive zone turnovers, something that plagued them in their series loss to Tampa Bay last spring. On each goal scored by the Predators there was a turnover by a forward and the defense was unable to cover up for the mistake.

“On the first goal, [assistant coach] Bob [Woods] said it was the winger. On the second, Michal [Neuvirth] said it was a two on one and the guy tried to pass it and it hit our guy and came right back to him so it was an easy play. The first one I do know that we made a bad change and that’s what left [Shea] Weber so alone in front of the net to be able to make that play,” said Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau on Nashville’s two goals.

“They just didn’t get the building cold enough, but it is what it is. There was less water in Florida [last night], but they had the building colder…the conditions were what they were, a hot building so you’ve really got to be mentally tough. We talked about let’s keep it simple, we can’t control the humidity and the heat and all of that…and it worked for us,” said Nashville coach Barry Trotz on how his club approached the way the game would have to be played.

“It’s hard to handle the puck out there. The conditions made a difference but both teams were playing on it. You see how wet the ice is, so sometimes you get the puck and kind of worry about if you handle it is it going to get stuck in the water? So I just tried to focus on moving the puck quick and getting it off of my stick,” added Caps defensemen Sean Collins on what he tried to do when he was on the ice.

- The best player for Washington on this night, in my book, was goalie Michal Neuvirth. #30 faced a lot of rubber, many of which came on quality chances due to Washington turnovers in their own zone. Both tallies were not the fault of the goaltender, he pretty much had no chance on either goal.

“It is usually the younger players, the hungrier players, that you see take over in games like this and I thought this was the case in this game tonight. The younger players were probably the better players or shined brighter, if there was anyone shining. I thought Michal Neuvirth is still pretty young and I thought he was a guy that played very steady for us tonight,” said Boudreau on the play of his young netminder.

- The 3rd and 4th lines for Washington provided the most effort and in particular Stanislav Galiev, Jay Beagle, and DJ King stood out for me.

“DJ King I thought had a pretty good game, guys that are fighting for jobs. Beagle, working really hard out there like he always does. Those were the guys that shined,” said Boudreau, who also praised Galiev’s ability to generate scoring chances.

“I think our line, right off the hop, we had a couple of good scoring opportunities we couldn’t bury. Obviously I’d like that one goal back, the puck bobbed on me and they ended up burying it. You have to play your role and play your game. I think they outworked us and that is what it came down to. We got to get it deep. You saw that when we got it deep we had it in there for the whole shift that we were out. You get the puck deep, you grind it out, and you take it to the net. Give it to the D, they had a couple of shots with tips and deflections. The puck just wasn’t going our way, but I think our line once we got it deep and got it going we played well,” said Beagle on what he thought of his line which included King and Garrett Mitchell.

- As for Washington’s more established players and stars, there wasn’t a lot of quality performances with Alexander Ovechkin having some nice shifts but many of the others not really playing well or hard.

“It’s hard for the skill [in this type of preseason game], but at the same time it is always easy to judge effort…you can tell the effort that is given and the effort that is received,” commented Boudreau, who felt that his younger guys were the ones who worked harder.

- On the special teams front, the Capitals power play only received two opportunities. On the first one, the initial unit featured Mike Green and Chris Bourque on the point with Ovechkin, Marucs Johansson, and Mike Knuble up front. Washington’s other power play came late in the game and the coach was able to try a few different combinations since he is in “try out” mode.

“Just experimenting, seeing what clicks, what didn’t click, trying to find fits. It’s one of these things for the next 17 days we’ll experiment with probably, a lot. I’d like to see something click and stay with it for a long period of time. This was the first real chance we had to see it. But what did we have, 2 chances? The last one I thought we had a couple of good opportunities at the end but when you get that sense of urgency on the 6 on 4, that was maybe our best opportunity,” stated Boudreau on what he is trying to do with his once deadly power play unit.

- Nashville didn’t play top six forwards David Legwand or Mike Fisher, but they did play their top defensive pair, and that duo made a difference in this game.

“Weber and [Ryan] Suter, they’re one of the best D pairings in the league, in the world. I know they were playing them quite a bit so I’m sure it was good for our forwards to really get a gauge of where they have to be. There are so many good defensemen here, it was nice for guys like me and Patty [Pat McNeill] to watch and learn from a Suter, a Weber, also Alzner, Green, so it was a learning experience,” added Collins on the benefit of playing a club like Nashville to open the preseason slate.

- Two of McPhee’s off-season additions, goaltender Tomas Vokoun and forward Joel Ward, played for the Predators and afterwards we had a chance to get the opinion of the Nashville bench boss on those Capital acquisitions.

“Tomas Vokoun is a helluva goaltender, they got a really, really good two way player in Joel Ward that was a Mr. Fix it for us. You can use him in a lot of different areas. He plays a little bit of a different game than a lot of guys for the Caps. He used to be a guy that stabilized lines for us, probably very similiar to Brooks Laich. He’s sort of whatever line you put him he puts stability to it, that is what Joel does and he is a great person. They got a good player in Joel. We’ve got some players scattered all over the place,” said Trotz, pretty much noting at the end that the small market nature of Nashville prevents them from keeping their good players from moving on for more money.

- In closing, this was a big night for Baltimore with the return of hockey and the city did a good job of supporting the Capitals, as Boudreau thought would happen based on his experience from his playing days in the AHL.

“I didn’t know what to expect but I do know that when I played here the Baltimore fans were great. So I expected if they’re still following hockey or their children are still following hockey, that they would be rowdy and be good just waiting for us to do something. Unfortunately we didn’t score any goals,” finished Boudreau.

Notes: Boudreau noted that his top guys will get more games this preseason, “Our main guys will probably play more games in this preseason than they’ve played in the past. Four, five, six games rather than the three or four that they’ve played maximum in the past to get ready for the season.”…Trotz added that he was impressed with the renovations in the downtown Baltimore area and also praised the Caps marketing efforts, “The Caps are doing a fantastic job of creating fans in this whole Baltimore Washington DC area and that it is really good, there is a lot of red out here.”…5 foot 9 Ryan Ellis tried to line up Ovechkin for a big hit, at one point, but bounced off of the Great 8 like he was hitting a brick wall…former team Capitals team captain and the man known as the Secretary of Defense, Rod Langway, dropped the ceremonial first puck…the Caps play preseason game number two in Columbus on Wednesday night.

Aint no Stopping us Now

We’re on the Move

Aint no Stopping us Now

We’ve got the Groove

On a night when logic dictated that the Washington Capitals eight game winning streak just might come to an end in Montreal given that second line center Jason Arnott was going to be joining Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green on the injured list, the Caps kept their groove going with a solid and impressive 4-2 victory over the Canadiens. Marcus Johansson continued his stellar play and tallied twice, including the eventual game winner, while Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble also scored for Washington to gain a victory in the very tough Bell Centre. Braden Holtby, who was named the NHL’s first star of the week on Monday, overcame a terrible early giveaway that led to the Habs first goal to stop 24 of the next 25 shots against him for his fifth straight win and the 21 year old rookie is 9-2-2 this season. The Caps ninth straight win runs their record to 41-20-10 (92 points) and puts their lead in the Southeast Division back at five points over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who have a game in hand.

Here are the highlights and analysis of a super Capitals performance in the first outing of a very difficult six game road trip:

- I’ve been talking about MJ90 taking his game to a higher level since the victory in Florida a week ago Sunday. Johansson, who has been steadily improving all season, performed at an elite level for the sixth straight game in my book. The 20 year old Swede looks like a 10 year vet on the ice right now and this club really needs it with both Backstrom (day to day) and now Arnott (week to week) out at center. Normally a young kid would likely succumb to the pressure of having to help carry this team but that has not been the case with Marcus. Instead of looking worn out in his first season in North America, he is actually getting stronger and he is not being knocked off the puck below the circles like he was earlier in the season. Johansson’s first goal was on a gift bounce off of the boards into an empty net but his second came from being in the proper position on the ice. MJ90 came down the slot late because he was being defensively responsible and took an Alexander Ovechkin (1 assist in 21:44 of ice time) pass on his backhand and put it by Carey Price (37 saves) 6:43 into the final frame. On the night the 20 year old rookie played 17:03 and took four shots on net.

- Price was great for Montreal and if not for him this game would have been over in the second period. The Caps dominated the play and had 35 shots on goal through two periods, many of which were in close and of the quality variety. Unlike last season’s playoffs, when Washington became more frustrated as the series went on, the Capitals would not be denied on this evening and they continued to crash the net. The Habs net minder could not be faulted on any of the tallies against him and he also appeared to get a gift when an apparent goal by Matt Hendricks in period one was wiped out due to what must have been an early whistle.

- On the Caps side of the house, the dynamic duo of blue liners, John Carlson and Karl Alzner, were phenomenal. Both guys were +2 on the night and Alzner’s perfect pass to Laich in the neutral zone set up #21′s goal in which he went around big Hal Gill like he was an orange road cone. #27 and #74 were flat out dominant in this contest and they logged 18:53 and 20:04, respectively. Alzner’s ability to hit players in stride with the puck as they go up the ice is often overlooked. He is a terrific puck moving defenseman who is almost always in the right place.

- Laich started this contest between Ovechkin and Alexander Semin but Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau switched it up when Eric Fehr went down due to an upper body injury (h/t @kcarrera of The Washington Post). #16 played only 5:16 of ice time and after that Johansson centered Ovechkin and Knuble while Laich played with Marco Sturm and Semin. It wasn’t one of Semin’s best games of the season, in fact, Sasha was lazy in his back pressure on the second Montreal goal by Andrei Kostitsyn. In addition, the Caps failed to get off a shot on net when he and the Great #8 had a 2 on 1 chance in period two. Semin was simply “too cute” for the first 40 minutes but in the final stanza he simplified his game and was very solid defensively once the Caps got a one goal lead. As for Sturm, he struggled for most of the game taking two minor penalties, but he delivered when he came out of the box with four mintues left and saucered a perfect pass to Knuble for the fourth goal and the nail in the coffin on Price and the Habs.

- On special teams, the Capitals penalty kill was a perfect three for three while the power play went 2 for 5. So that thing is fixed, right? Not so fast, the two PPGs were the MJ90 open net fluke bounce and the second was when Sturm came out of the box for a two on one with the Habs pressing late. In fact, without Arnott, the power play struggled and Washington wasted an 85 second five on three advantage late in the opening frame (7 seconds of it carried into period two). Too much passing and not enough shots was the story on that sequence (I know, you’ve heard that before).

- Overall, this was a superb way to come out and set the tone on a long road trip without some big guns in the lineup. With a flight to Detroit on Tuesday night and a lengthy stop likely clearing customs, the Capitals just might not have much left in the tank for the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday night at “The Joe” at 7:30pm. So getting this win was so key for this club and right now the song must continue for another day, since the winning streak could come to a halt in Motown.

Aint No Stopping Us Now

We’re on the Move

Aint no Stopping us Now

We’ve got the Groove

Notes: Both Jeff Halpern (5:56 of ice time) and Tomas Plekenac (logged 11:03) left the game for Montreal early due to injuries…Tyler Sloan played on defense tonight with John Erskine out due to a cold (again h/t @kcarrera). #89 had two giveaways and took a penalty in 14:57 of ice time…the Caps won the face-off battle, 30-27, thanks to Boyd Gordon winning 12 of 16 draws (Dave Steckel who?)…with Arnott out, Jay Beagle returned after missing several games due to injury and he played 9:27 and had 3 hits (tied for second on the team to Ovechkin’s 4)…Matt Bradley fought Paul Mara just 1:48 into the contest…I expect Michal Neuvirth to get the start in goal for Washington on Wednesday in Detroit and he will have a tough task against Pavel Datsyuk and company.

It was the worst of times. It was the best of times. Okay, I am exaggerating quite a bit here but that is what tonight’s Capitals game against the Islanders had to feel like to Washington fans. Following up on Friday night’s pile of garbage effort in which they were buried 6-0 by the Rangers, the Caps came out and looked disorganized and uninterested for the first 22 minutes of the game falling behind New York, 2-0. At that point, it seemed like this team was unraveling, but the typical sacrificial Matt Hendricks fight, a Bruce Boudreau timeout in which he likely out dB’d the local air traffic coming in to LaGuardia airport, and then most importantly, a change in the top two line combinations jump started this Capitals club and they scored the last three goals to win, 3-2. The victory improves Washington to 33-20-10 (76 points) and they pull within three points of Southeast Division leading Tampa, who will face the Rangers on Sunday at 1pm at Madison Square Garden.

Here are the highlights and analysis of a game Washington needed to have if they want to stay in the division race:

- Sometimes in hockey players perform poorly because they aren’t playing with the right guys. This leads to that disorganized look I mentioned above, then frustration sets in, and finally the effort goes out the window because the players tend to give up. To me, that is what was happening for the first period or so for this Washington team, especially the top two Capitals lines. Alexander Ovechkin, who was all over the ice on Friday night, was shifted away from his regular centerman, Nicklas Backstrom, and put with rookie Marcus Johansson for the first period plus of Saturday’s game. It was a DISASTER! The Great #8 had 0 shots on net with MJ90 as his pivot (h/t former Capital Alan May). I like the young rookie, who will eventually be a really good player in this league but will never be a #1 center, but to align him with Ovechkin is asking too much of a 20 year old who is a very good skater but doesn’t know where the Great #8 wants and needs the puck. Simply put, asking Johansson to center Ovie is putting way TOO MUCH pressure on the kid. Thankfully, the coaches figured it out and shuffled the top two forward lines a few shifts after the Boudreau bench rant at 5:35 of period two. Whoever was involved in the decision to get 8 and 19 back together and put MJ90 with Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble is the star of the game, in my opinion. The whole team was way better and more confident after that configuration change.

- The player of the game, and deservedly so, was Laich. #21 made two strong plays with the puck that led to tallies, one for himself when he beat Islanders goalie Al Montoya (19 saves) on an in close bad angled goal to seemingly wake up the entire Capitals team, and the second of which was another strong move with puck in front of the New York cage that allowed Knuble to bang home the biscuit and knot this affair at 2-2 just 2:24 into period three. Laich found chemistry with Johansson (1 assist), who was fantastic after the line juggling, and #22 providing Boudreau with one of those rare contests when he had two lines generating offensive chances.

- The winning goal came from Alexander Semin, whose picture was only seen on a milk carton for the first 30 plus minutes of this tilt, but once #28 was put with his young gun mates #8 and #19 he was a totally different player. Semin started competing on the boards and his laser in the slot at 5:41 of the final stanza was the difference. When you see Semin play like that it really has to make the entire Washington organization think that if they could get him a real center he would play at an elite level more often. Kind of like he did when Sergei Fedorov came over in 2008.

- Michal Neuvirth (29 saves) is the other big reason the Capitals had even an iota of a chance of pulling out a victory on Saturday night. The Isles threw 14 shots on the young Caps goalie when the “Bad and Disorganized” Washington team took the ice in the first period. #30 only gave up Kyle Okposo’s quality shot in the slot when John Carlson got caught pinching too deep in the offensive zone and then Karl Alzner did a poor job of closing the gap on #21 in the defensive zone. The only other marker allowed by Neuvy came after a #74 giveaway on Travis “Diver” Hamonic’s deflected slap shot just 33 seconds into the middle frame. Neuvirth, who had to be ready to sue for non support at that point, has become a rock for the Capitals and he was forced to play again when Semyon Varlamov came up with yet another injury during the morning skate (and Todd Ford, he of the ECHL to start the season, was recalled from Hershey to be the back up goalie with Braden Holtby and Dany Sabourin on the shelf in Hershey). I am not sure where the Caps are this season without Neuvirth.

- Alzner and Carlson had their struggles early, likely because bad line combos don’t help d-men out either, but as the game went on that duo got stronger and stronger. Carlson even made the play in the neutral zone that sprung Laich for his first goal. #’s 27 and 74 logged 23:03 and 20:31, respectively and came back to -1 after being on for the first two goals against. The defensive player of the night, however, was Scott Hannan (+2). #23 was super solid on the back end and if you want to see just how great he is defensively, go back and watch the last 2:08 of the game. Hannan was on the ice the entire time and made numeous strong plays to preserve the Capitals victory.

- In closing, this game was headed for disaster yet the Washington players and coaches found a way to battle through it and gut out a victory. The effort, which had been gone for over four periods came back, and the Caps got a much needed two points. There are still issues with this team, primarily the hole at second line center and a power play that continues to be pitiful, but there is still hope given that the NHL trade deadline could still yield some assistance in the talent department. We will all know that story come 3:00pm this Monday afternoon after Capitals GM George McPhee attempts to work his magic.

Notes: I sure hope Hendricks (signed to a 2 year contract extension by the Caps this week) recieved or was considered for the hard hat for his fight tonight. He got hammered by Zenon Konopka but the message received on the Washington bench was what mattered. #26 is all heart…Michal Grabner missed the ocean from the beach when it appeared he had an empty net that would have given the Islanders a 3-0 lead in period two. Hannan helped to thwart that chance as well…Backstrom only took two faceoffs. The Caps won that battle again, 30-27…The Caps claimed forward Marco Sturm off of waivers from the Los Angeles Kings today. Sturm played for Boston last season but blew out his knee in the playoffs. He has struggled to regain his health and the Kings, who are hoping to make some trade deadline acquisitions, valued the vacant roster spot more than Sturm’s services so McPhee gets a second line winger at a discount price…forward/tough guy/typical scratch DJ King was waived today and Mathieu Perreault was sent to Hershey, however #85 apparently is not going to play for the Bears this weekend…Jay Beagle was recalled from Hershey and he played physical and well in 10:27 of ice time…Mike Green did not play and traveled to Calgary to attend his grandmother’s funeral…Hershey won 4-3 getting four assists from Keith Aucoin on Saturday night. 2009 Caps 2nd round draft pick, d-man Dmitri Orlov (1 assist) made his AHL debut for the Bears. Congrats to Jared DeMichiel (27 saves) for his first AHL victory at home! Orlov’s assist came on one of the two Hershey power play tallies.

Not so fast, Tampa Bay Lightning, on claiming that Southeast Division title just yet. Your daddy, Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau, just came to town and his club laid another rear-end whipping on you by a 5-2 count, behind a four point night from Alexander Ovechkin (1 goal, 3 assists, +3). Nicklas Backstrom also had four points (2 goals, 2 assists, +3) and Semyon Varlamov (23 saves) recovered from allowing a bad goal on the first shot he faced to get the victory as Washington pulled within three points of the first place Bolts. The Caps are now 3-1-1 against Tampa this year and Boudreau is 18-3-1 against them since taking over as the Capitals bench boss on Thanksgiving in 2007.

Below are the highlights and analysis from a Caps game that the NHL Network’s Billy Jaffe afterwards called “One of the most complete games they’ve had in a while.”:

- We’ll get to the Ovechkin/Backstrom show in a minute but this night, that started ominously with Washington outshooting the Bolts 10-1 but had the Caps trailing 1-0, turned around thanks to a Dale Hunter like move and performance from Matt Hendricks. Tampa goalie Dwayne Roloson had owned the Capitals in his first two games against them as a Bolt keeping them off of the scoreboard for all 125 minutes played. But #26 changed that by running into the Lightning goaltender at the 8:21 mark and the 41 year old goalie snapped by punching Hendricks with his blocker numerous times to set up a 4 on 4 situation. Actually, according to the rulebook Roloson should have been given a major and kicked out for attempt to injure (h/t Caps VP @nateewell) but it turned out to be good he stayed in because he lost his focus after the altercation. Just 48 seconds later Roloson had trouble with a Mike Green shot and Backstrom put in the rebound as he and the Great #8 were crashing the net. That goal knocked the Roloson monkey off of the Caps backs. Hendricks also held his own in a fight with Tampa’s top pscyho and chief punk, Steve Downie, at the 10:39 mark.

- Now on to the 8 and 19 show. The Capitals top line, which featured Jason Chimera (1 empty net goal, 1 assist) back on the 1st unit, abused a very slow and methodical Lightning defense all game. Chimera’s speed was a huge difference and both the Great #8 and Backstrom were as focused as I’ve seen them in months. That line continuously cyclced the puck well and generated pressure and scoring chances. Ovechkin also scored his first power play goal since October (he scored two in Calgary) and it came from the half wall, a position I have been calling for him to play more of on the PP, with Mike Knuble doing a super Tomas Holmstrom like screening job in front of the Tampa net. #22 was battling with the talented yet slow Victor Hedman and it rattled Roloson. That marker made it 3-1 Caps less than two minutes after the Capitals took the lead for the first time. Then after Tampa scored on the PP late in period two to make it 3-2, Ovie would set up Backstrom’s second tally of the night with just under eight minutes left in regulation. Alexander the Great took a Chimera feed and fired the biscuit on net and then crashed it for the rebound. When all three Bolts, including Roloson, went to Ovechkin, #19 skated down the slot all alone and fired the biscuit into a vacated cage. The final tally for that line came with the empty net and Ovechkin unselfishly fed Chimera for a wide open goal that closed out the scoring. Simply put, if Ovechkin and Backstrom play like that on a consistent basis, this team is very hard to beat.

- While the top line was sensational, there was a lot of good work from the supporting cast. In particular, Boudreau received a strong performance from his second line and the second Washington goal was a thing of beauty. All three Caps forwards, Mathieu Perreault, Jay Beagle, and Brooks Laich were working hard on the left wing boards and #83 managed to get the puck in the left wing circle to #85 who made a gorgeous pass to #21 in the slot. Laich then made an even prettier backhanded shot upstairs past Roloson that gave the Capitals their first lead of the game 6:38 into period two and it was one they would never relinquish. #85 only logged 12:53 of ice time but it was of the high energy variety, something he has to bring every night if he is going to stay in the NHL.

- Steven Stamkos, who is leading the NHL in points, was hardly noticeable thanks to an outstanding defensive job by the John Carlson (1 assist in a team leading 26:49 of ice time) and Karl Alzner (19:40 of ice time) duo. Both were +2 on the night and they held Stamkos (0 points, -2) to just one shot on net in this tilt! #74 and #27 are only 21 and 22 years old, respectively, yet they are routinely called on by Boudreau to match up against the opponents top line and they are getting the job done.

- Washington, who won despite two of their top three right wings, Alexander Semin and Eric Fehr, still out of the lineup, played a very smart game. They routinely got the puck deep in the Tampa zone and abused a subpar Lightning defense. In addition, with the Bolts playing a 1-3-1 neutral zone configuration, the Caps blue liners were patient and did a good job of not forcing passes. Guy Boucher’s club prefers to sit back and counter attack against the Caps but Boudreau’s crew did not allow the Bolts to have much success with that plan on Friday night. Simply put, Boudreau outcoached the rookie NHL bench boss on this night.

- Varlamov was super solid after giving up the first goal to Teddy Purcell (1 goal, 1 assist) from a bad angle just 3:21 into the contest. There were a few flurries against #1 in the first period and during the second but he stayed calm in net and didn’t give up any quality rebounds. Credit the defense for protecting the front of the cage as well and the whole team deserves kudos for being mentally strong and not letting the bad first goal get them down.

Notes: The Caps outshot Tampa, 36-25 in an excellent 60 minute effort…Washington also buried the Bolts in the face-off dot going 41-27. Marcus Johansson (10:53) and Jay Beagle (1 assist in 11:44 of time) were both 7-1 while NHL leading draw man Dave Steckel went 6-1…Matt Bradley fought Adam Hall in period one after the Hendricks-Downie bout…Ovechkin had four hits, including a good one in the opening frame against cheap shot and skate away artist, Mattias Ohlund…Tampa’s Brett Clark deflected a Purcell shot on the PP past Varlamov to end a Washington string of 27 straight penalty kills in the second period…both teams went 1 for 4 with the man advantage…the Caps are now 11-3-2 when Ovechkin scores a point on the road…next up for the Caps are the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Verizon Center on Sunday at 1230pm on NBC. Both Sidney Crosby (concussion) and Evgeni Malkin (knee) are expected to miss the game for the Pens…the Hershey Bears, who lost goalie Dany Sabourin for 2 to 3 months due to a knee injury, knocked off the Albany Devils, 5-3, in Atlantic City on Friday night. Brian Willsie had two goals and Todd Ford, on recall from the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL, made 21 saves (h/t to my main man John Walton from the Bears for the info on this victory).

There are now three sure things in life: death, taxes, and the Caps will lose in the shootout. At least that is what things must feel like to Washington Capitals fans as their team jumped to an early 2-0 lead, made some boneheaded decisions in a poor middle stanza, played a strong third period and overtime session, only to lose again in the gimmick, 3-2, to the Montreal Canadiens at sold out Verizon Center. Brian Gionta was the Habs hero on Tuesday night potting two goals in the second frame on odd man rushes and then he had the only tally in the shootout. This Caps loss was their eighth straight overtime or shootout loss and they have lost three straight tilts, with two coming in the gimmick. The good news for Washington is that they did pick up a key point in the standings over the teams that are chasing the Caps for second place in the Southeast Division, the Atlanta Thrashers and the Carolina Hurricanes, who both lost in regulation on Tuesday. The Caps are now 7 and 8 points ahead of the Thrashers and Canes, respectively. They trail the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning, who blanked the Flyers 4-0 tonight, by five points in the Southeast Division race.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from another loss for the offensively challenged Capitals:

- We will start with the good: Semyon Varlamov (36 saves) and Washington’s penalty killing unit (6 for 6 in 10:06 of SH time). The only two goals Varly allowed were on a two on one and a breakaway, both to the Habs captain. #1 faced numerous quality chances as at least half of his defensemen made some terrible errors at critical junctures in this hockey game. If not for some superb goaltending in the first and primarily in the second period, Montreal may have won handily because the Caps stopped playing for the next 30 minutes after they raced to a 2-0 lead in the opening 10 minutes. As for the PK, the NHL’s 2nd ranked unit got stellar goaltending and they did an excellent job of forcing the Canadiens to shoot from the perimeter.

- Mathieu Perreault (1 goal, 1 assist in 13:53) had his usual “sparky” type of game coming off of a recall/break. #85 made a super defensive play in the neutral zone to break up a potential Montreal two on one rush and then skated in and beat Carey Price (27 saves) from a poor angle through the five hole. He also played a big role in the Caps second goal, which came on the power play by Mike Knuble. However, #85 still struggles to be consistent at this level due to his size and he was fading as this contest went on, according to Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau.

“He was good, but he looked tired. He hit a wall a lot of times and his shifts were short. But he made the most of them. It’s been a long time between points and goals for him,” commented the Caps bench boss on Perreault, who hadn’t registered a point in his previous nine contests.

- The quote of the night in my book is the following:  “I think 100 percent commitment from everybody. I think at times we have it and at times we don’t.” That came from the Caps Matt Hendricks when asked what the team is missing right now and he is dead on. Want to know where you can start on calling players out on not giving the 100% commitment the whole game? Alexander Ovechkin. Yes, the team captain did not have a consistent contest and he was badly outplayed by the guy wearing the C from the other team. I realize that the Great #8 and his club are not going to shut up the critics until they do something in the playoffs but bad habits die hard and Ovechkin is doing too much floating in his own zone these days. On offense, he is trying to do too much on his own. I think the hopefully imminent return of Alexander Semin will help that though, because Alexander the Great rarely has any time or space on the ice these days because the opposition knows that there are very few other Capitals forwards who can hurt them. The dynamic changes a bit with #28 and if GM George McPhee can add another center and perhaps another winger between now and the trade deadline (February 28th) then the offensive zone could open up more for #8 and his teammates.

- Washington, with its lack of firepower up front, has changed its style in the last two months to be a more defensive team so when they jumped out to a 2-0 lead they got a bit careless trying to increase that margin. It is okay to pressure and not back off, but some guys made bad decisions and that cost the team the game. John Erskine pinched in the offensive zone on the first Habs goal and John Carlson made a “rookie” decision on a drop pass that lead to Gionta’s breakaway marker. There were others to blame as well on those plays as numerous forwards did nothing to help out their blue liners on those goals. Still, when you are winning and struggling to score, you have to play smart and the Caps hockey IQ was low in period two on Tuesday night.

“{Tonight} wasn’t a letdown as much as it was mistakes. We made two bad mistakes and it’s in our net. We’re playing desperate. We killed off {several} penalties. They {Montreal} took it to us. We battled and we lost in the shootout. I wish we could’ve scored a little bit more,” was Boudreau’s take on the Caps shootout loss.

“I felt like they didn’t really pressure us as much. I didn’t feel that offensive kind-of pressure [the Capitals had] last year or other games against them,” was Montreal forward Tomas Plekenac’s thoughts on how Washington played.

- Finally, this was not the reason Washington lost the game but it certainly contributed to the defeat: the officiating! Blind, clueless, inept, out of touch, inconsistent, one-sided, etc. You can pick any of those terms and more, some of which are four letter words, to describe the absolute joke and disgrace of a performance from the Dan-Dan twins tonight. Both Dan O’Halloran and Dan O’Rourke (get me Mickey or P.J. next time!) missed so many infractions against the Canadiens that it might be wise for Terry Gregson in the NHL Officiating office to check and see if the Dan-Dan (or should I say Dumb-Dumb?) twins didn’t fly directly in to DC from Vegas this past weekend. Those two clowns sure looked like they had money on the Habs. It would take far too long to list everything they missed but a good place to start would be the Pittsburgh Steelers like tackle and hold in the slot on Nicklas Backstrom in period two right before the Gionta breakaway and the Hal Gill smothering of the puck in the crease with two seconds left in OT. That should have been a penatly shot! Of course the Caps likely would have not converted, but that is not the point. They also missed a Roman Hamrlik cross check on Brooks Laich (who took three minor penalties) right before #21 tripped a Montreal player, giving the Canadiens a key late power play. The Habs carried the play but there is NO WAY the power play time should have been 10:06 to 4:01 in favor of the guys from Quebec.

Notes: Semin was a game time scratch, hopefully he can go against the Lightning on Friday night in the Caps next contest, which is in Tampa…on defense, the Caps miss Tom Poti’s skating and puck moving skills, but only if he is 100% healthy. Erskine struggled tonight for Washington…the Caps won the faceoff battle 31-28 with Boyd Gordon going 11-6…I am not sure if he got hurt or he was benched, but Marcus Johansson, who drew the 1st power play for Washington, only played two shifts in period three and only 8:01 for the game. The Caps are just too small up the middle with both MP85 and MJ90 playing center…Jay Beagle was recalled from Hershey on Tuesday while Perreault had been recalled on Monday. Neither player suited up for the Hershey Bears in their two weekend games (the move did save salary cap room)…Michal Neuvirth backed up Varlamov with #30 healthier and Braden Holtby back in Hershey for the AHL All Star game that was played on Monday night.

The Caps have signed forward Alexander Semin to a one year deal. Below is the press release from the Washington Capitals:

The Washington Capitals have signed right wing Alexander Semin to a one-year contract extension, vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today. In keeping with club policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Semin, 26, is in his sixth season in the NHL, all with the Capitals. He has 35 points (18 goals, 17 assists) in 39 games this season, second on the team in goals and third in points. In 366 career games the 6’2”, 209-pound native of Krasnoyarsk, Russia, has recorded 335 points (166 goals, 169 assists) and already ranks 11th in Capitals history in goals and 19th in points.

This season Semin is tied for the league lead with three hat tricks, which came in a 35-day span from Oct. 23 to Nov. 26. His 16 goals at home rank third in the league. While he has been hampered by injury lately, he ranked second in the league in goals (18) and fifth in points (30) in the first two months of the season. His three hat tricks in 35 days were the fastest by an NHL player since 2002 (Marian Gaborik) and his natural hat trick in 4:29 on Nov. 26 was the NHL’s fastest since Jan. 8, 2009 (Bobby Ryan, 2:21).

Semin, who is coming off his first 40-goal season and a career-high 84 points, ranked seventh in the NHL in goals and 13th in points in 2010-11. His 30 even-strength goals ranked third in the league and he was tied for fifth with a +36 rating.

A first-round choice of the Capitals in the 2002 NHL Draft, 13th overall, Semin has 313 points in 314 games during the last five seasons, ranking 17th in points per game in the NHL in that time (0.997). He ranks 10th in goals in that time (156) and is one of only 12 players league-wide to score more than 25 goals in each of the last four seasons. He is on pace to hit that mark again this year. He is a combined +69 in the last three seasons, best of any Capitals forward and fifth-best in the NHL.

In addition, the Caps sent three players to Hershey today, here is the press release on those moves:

The Washington Capitals have assigned forwards Jay Beagle and Mathieu Perreault and goaltender Braden Holtby to the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League (AHL), vice president and general manager George McPhee announced today.

The move, coinciding with the NHL All-Star Weekend, will allow Holtby to participate in the AHL All-Star festivities set for Sunday and Monday in Hershey (and televised live on Comcast SportsNet).

All three players have spent time in both Hershey and Washington this season. Perreault has eight points (five goals, three assists) in 24 games with the Capitals, while Beagle has scored twice in 19 games. Holtby is 4-2-2 in eight appearances, with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage.

The Capitals’ next game is Tuesday, Feb. 1, at home against the Montreal Canadiens at 7:30 p.m.

COMMENTS: The Semin deal is reportedly for $6.7M which is a $700K increase over his 2010-11 salary. If the Capitals get the #28 who played the first two months of the season, then the price tag is understandable, however, the Semin that we’ve seen since December 1 has not performed well. He has been out since early January due to a lower body injury that was suffered in a contest against the Florida Panthers. The team expects #28 back next week and they clearly need his offense. Right now the club is struggling to score and getting Semin back on the top line should improve things because Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom really need a quality #1 right wing, at this time. Both Mike Knuble and Jason Chimera have not been able to get it done consistently this season.

Seven and counting. That is how many games in a row the Capitals have lost in overtime or the shootout this season after a 2-1 defeat to the New York Rangers at the Verizon Center on Monday night. Matt Hendricks scored the lone Caps goal early in the second period off of a gorgeous pass from rookie Marcus Johansson but then the Blueshirts tied it on a fluky goal that hit the arm of forward Marian Gaborik and then Caps d-man Karl Alzner’s stick before going into the cage with 6:41 left in regulation. At that point the Caps were being outshot 28-17, but they would take 10 of the next 11 shots before the game went to the gimmick. In the shootout, the Rangers took advantage of an “overly aggressive” Braden Holtby, scoring on 3 of 4 attempts while Washington went 2-4. The Caps record now stands at 27-14-9 and the missed points in the extra sessions are the big reason they now trail the Tampa Bay Lightning by two points in the Southeast Division race.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from a tightchecking game that didn’t have too many scoring opportunities:

- With the Caps missing Alexander Semin and Eric Fehr up front while the Rangers were without top forwards Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan Callahan, this game turned into a John Tortorella special, a hard working, grind it out type of affair. Each team had stretches where they controlled the puck for long periods of time in the others zone but the Capitals were on the short end of the shots on goal board because they often overpassed looking for the perfect play. The Rangers forecheck, at times, was also relentless and early on Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau made a tactical adjustment on Washington’s breakout with Tortorella’s crew clogging all zone exits on the boards.

“Patience from our D and then hitting the middle. I think our D did a great job once we changed the game plan a little bit. Me and [Johansson], and [Hendricks] had a couple of 3 on 2′s and [Hendricks] almost scored their in the third on that one shot. Their D came down the boards hard so it was either a chip from the winger or else hit the center. They played a tough game,” said Caps forward Jay Beagle on the changes Boudreau made almost right away in the opening stanza to combat the New York forecheck.

- Holtby only surrendered one goal for the third straight game but this time he did not get a victory because the Capitals continue to struggle to score. Problem number one was a lack of shots and compounding that was the fact that the Caps had two power plays for a total of four minutes and they had exactly ONE shot on goal. That is totally unacceptable. At this point, Boudreau likely needs to just put out the grinders and a set of different defensemen to see what they can do to get this unit going. On the first attempt, it looked like the Caps might finally break through as Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, and Mike Green were up top on the umbrealla on the first unit, while Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich played screen men in front of Rangers goalie Martin Biron. That setup was good except for one thing: the point men were reluctant to fire away! Boudreau attributed the Caps lack of offense to the inability of the power play to score.

“We scored 90 some goals on the power play last year, that is one a game, we are in our 20′s still at 50 games, so that one goal a game, it constitutes the difference between people saying we are not an offensive team to an offensive team. A goal a game it goes from 2.80 to 3.80 which is what we had last year and was the best in the league. So when you are not scoring on the power play things are not working,” said Boudreau on the primary reason the offense is down this season.

- While Ovechkin isn’t doing a good job at all on the power play, the rest of his game continues to be on the rise. The Great #8 was all over the ice and his stick handling and moves were much more effective in this contest. Ovie had six shots on net, two hits, and three takeaways in 24:08 of ice time and I thought he was the best player on the ice. Ovechkin’s center, Nicklas Backstrom, had a strong game as well (13-7 on faceoffs, 2 shots in 23:55) but winger Jason Chimera did not have the same success he had with #’s 8 and 19 in the last two tilts. #25 seemed to fight the puck all evening struggling to retrieve passes and thus slowing down the rush.

- After that, there wasn’t much to this game, other than a lot of work on the wall by both clubs. The line of Mathieu Perreault, Brooks Laich, and Mike Knuble seemed to struggle but the Johansson (1 assist, +1), Matt Hendricks (1 goal and a great shootout tally), and Jay Beagle (+1) line was arguably Washington’s best three man crew. Johansson, in particular, had a really solid outing in 16:41 of ice time and his overtime play was much improved versus the defensive mistakes he made in the OT loss to the Flyers last Tuesday night.

Notes: Washington won the faceoff battle, 32-24…the Caps killed off both Ranger power plays allowing a total of four shots…Scott Hannan had the second assist on the Hendricks goal, his first point as a Capital…next up for the Caps are the Atlanta Thrashers in Hotlanta on Wednesday night. It is the last game before the All Star Break. I would expect Semyon Varlamov to get the start in goal, if he is healthy, because he is the Caps goalie who has had the most success in Phillips Arena.

Remember that Washington Capitals eight game losing streak, a stretch in which they went 0-6-2? Well that is now a distant memory and after Saturday night’s Caps 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers the team is 6-0-2 in their last eight contests to put their overall record at 12 games over .500 for the second time this season (24-12-6). Alexander Ovechkin scored one of his patented highlight reel variety goals with 3:55 remaining to put the Caps up 3-1 and after giving up a goal with 97 seconds to go, they hung on for the win. Mike Green and Eric Fehr each added a goal and an assist after the Panthers drew first blood and the Caps now lead the NHL in wins (12) when surrendering the first goal of the game. Semyon Varlamov was excellent in the cage stopping 25 of 27 shots to get his 8th victory of the 2010-11 season.

Let’s get to the quotes and analysis from a victory that allows the Caps to remain just a point behind the Tampa Bay Lightning (55 to 54) in the Southeast Division standings (the Bolts defeated Ottawa, 2-1, on Saturday night):

- The first period of this game was some of the ugliest hockey I have watched all year. There was little to no flow in the opening frame and the Caps struggled to make good passes and get out of their own zone. The shots were 6-5, Florida, as the Panthers took a one goal lead on a defensive breakdown just 3:49 into the contest. Prior to the game, Boudreau shuffled up his lines in an attempt to get Nicklas Backstrom (1 assist, +1) and Alex Semin (left game injured in 2nd period) going. It didn’t work and #19 and #28 now have 16 and 14 game goal scoring droughts, respectively. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau wasn’t very happy with that opening period and afterwards he was asked what he told his troops heading into the middle stanza.

“I didn’t curse,” joked Boudreau as he started his answer, “I just said quite frankly that we are not forechecking at all. We’re getting it in and we are worried about positioning and systems but if we don’t go and put pressure on them nothing’s gonna happen. That’s why I think we had only five shots in the first period,” said Boudreau on his speech after 20 minutes. The head coach switched his lines back to their normal configuration in the middle frame reuniting Backstrom, Ovechkin, and Mike Knuble.

- Boudreau frequently says that in order to win your best players have to be your best players each night. Tonight Green was the top player on the ice and Ovechkin was solid as well adding an assist on #52′s tally to go with his game winning marker. In addition, Varlamov was excellent in net and he made some big saves when the Caps were running around in their own end on numerous occassions in this game (mostly in period one). Washington has now given up only 11 goals in this eight game stretch and just 16 in their past 10 tilts. The team defense has been strong and the Green-Scott Hannan pair was praised by the Caps bench boss afterwards.

“They’ve been excellent, but all of the defensemen have been excellent. You just look at our goals against in the last eight games and it’s been as good as any team. It’s better than we’ve ever had it here before in my tenure. But you can see Mike is starting to get his legs and his confidence and he’s doing a great job,” said Boudreau about his blue line’s solid play and #52.

“It’s been great. Scotty is so experienced and the one thing that he helps me out with is I like to hang on to the puck and carry the puck and he’s directing me before I even get it, so it makes my job a lot easier and any time there is that communication it’s easier out there,” added Green on why he and Hannan are playing so well together.

- In my mid-season grades and analysis blog I pointed out the Caps penalty killing has been the most improved area over the 2009-10 campaign. Washington killed off all four Florida power plays and in fact, it was forward Jay Beagle who drew the tripping call, while shorthanded, that led to Green’s power play goal in the third period to give the Caps their first lead of the night. The Capitals have killed off 27 consecutive shorthanded situations and 33 of 34 (97.1%) in their last nine games. Washington, who came into tonight’s contest ranked fourth in the NHL in penalty kill percentage (85.4%), hasn’t allowed more than one power-play goal in a game in 29 games, the team’s longest stretch since 1997-98 (36 games). Once again the key to the shorthanded success is the 30 second short shifts and winning defensive zone draws (Dave Steckel had another monster night from the dot going 13-4). Last season when Washington took a penalty tied or down a goal it was usually trouble for the team, but not this year, as the PK is actually turning games around.

“What we’ve been trying to do on the bench is stay up when we get penalties and gain momentum from killing penalties. That is a huge momentum boost for the team when you kill a penalty off. Tonight we got lucky they hauled me down and we got a power play out of it,” added Beagle on the mindset of his club when they go shorthanded.

- This year’s black sheep of the special teams package, the power play, actually came through tonight with a goal in three attempts.

“Any power play goal at this time, just to get the lead in the third period, it was like a breath of fresh air. It seems when you come off of a shutout, it seems you are never going to score. Every goal you get is such a difficult goal and then you go watch the highlights [of other games] and you are wondering if you are ever going to score again,” said Boudreau on the feeling of relief that occurred when they seized the lead on Green’s power play tally, set up by Backstrom and Ovechkin (who was on the half wall in this instance with the man advantage and not on the point).

- Beagle is playing extremely well and making it tough for GM George McPhee and Boudreau to send him back to Hershey when Matt Bradley and Boyd Gordon return from injuries. #83 drew the game’s key penalty and he, Steckel, and Matt Hendricks dominated in the 10 minutes the trio were on the ice together (each played just over 12 minutes total). Beagle has good speed, size (6′ 3″, 201 lbs), can kill penalties, and he can take faceoffs. Each game he seems to get better.

“We worked hard down low and we had some chances early and even late. As long as we are getting chances and doing things right, good things are going to happen. I feel better every game. I’m just more confident and there’s more confidence shown in me by the coaches. I just build off that, try to play my game, and contribute to the team,” said the 25 year old undrafted forward, who won back to back AHL Calder Cup titles with the Hershey Bears in 2009 and 2010.

- The Florida Panthers are a much improved team but once again they aren’t going to make the post season (now 18-20-2). They have good speed and they compete, which is why the Caps are only 1-1 against them this year (they lost 3-0 to them on 12/9 at the Verizon Center). Washington was 6-0 against the Cats last year so a case could be made that the Capitals have overlooked them. Whatever the reason, it was a victory and Boudreau felt that as the game went on his club, who hadn’t played since Tuesday’s 1-0 OT defeat to the Lightning, steadily improved.

“We have to better. I think we are too good to be this mediocore, that is what I said in the first period and I thought we picked it up in the second period and I thought we played better in the third period as well,” concluded Boudreau on how the game unfolded for his club.

“They played hard. They’re one of the fastest skating teams we play all season. They played really well and they didn’t want to give us a whole lot and we had to earn the win,” added Fehr, whose 8th goal of the season came from the top of the crease after Green centered the puck on a wrap around attempt.

“[Washington’s] a team that if you make a mistake, they make you pay.  They have those types of players.  You see the guys that scored the [last two] goals in the third, Green and Ovechkin.  That’s the story.  Those are game-changing players and they delivered in the third when they needed to,” concluded Florida head coach Peter DeBoer on why his team lost.

Notes: There was no information provided afterwards on Semin’s condition, who took a knee from Steve Bernier on a 2nd period play in which #28 passed up a shot and tried to make an extra deke. That delay not only took away his scoring chance, but eventually ended his evening…the Caps won the faceoff battle, 26-24 thanks to Steckel…Tom Poti played 7:01 in the first period but only 10:58 more over the last two frames. He does not look 100% to me as his skating is a step slow…Green talked about the importance of on ice communication. On two occassions in this game Marcus Johansson was wide open in the offensive zone and neither Ovechkin nor Laich attempted to pass to #90 in prime scoring position. I wonder if the rookie is verbally letting his teammates know he is open?…John Erskine and Tyler Sloan were scratched on defense…the Caps next game is on Tuesday in Florida against the Panthers. They follow that tilt up with a game in Tampa on Wednesday before coming back to face the Vancouver Canucks at home on Friday, January 14th.

Defense Wins Championships, isn’t that how the saying goes? Well the Washington Capitals have recently been working towards becoming a better defensive club and on Tuesday night they played super defensively and received excellent goaltending from Semyon Varlamov (25 saves) in a 3-0 blanking of the Montreal Canadiens at a sold out Verizon Center. Jay Beagle, Mike Green, and Alexander Ovechkin each scored a goal in the victory that gives the Capitals a 4-0-1 record in their last five games following an 0-6-2 stretch when an injured and ill team seemed to get every bad break going. Washington improves to 22-12-5 (49 points) overall and they lead the Tampa Bay Lightning by two points after the Bolts lost with just 19.7 seconds remaining in regulation to the Boston Bruins on Tuesday. Tampa does have two games in hand on the Caps.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis of a contest in which the Capitals style of play continues to shift to one that is more likely to bring success in the post season, at least that is what they hope will happen:

- Remember when the Canadiens raced out to early first period leads in games five, six, and seven of last season’s playoff series and then frustrated the Caps the rest of the way? Well, that is what Washington did to Montreal on Tuesday night. Beagle and Green scored late in the opening frame and then the Caps stymied the Montreal attack with smart hockey during the final stanza. The Capitals, when ahead in the third period, are no longer trying to score on lower probability chances and instead are more likely to dump the puck in deep on their opponents and then make them skate through a maze of Washington defenders in the neutral zone. This transformation, which began during the Capitals recent eight game slide, is starting to really take hold and as a result the Caps have only allowed 12 goals in their last seven contests.

“It’s a little bit more different, we sit back a little bit more in the neutral zone and try and clog up the middle. Try and make it hard on them to get it into our zone. It was a little bit more aggressive, our system earlier, and the guys are really buying into the [newer] system and it is working really well,” said Beagle when I asked him how the style they are playing now is different than the aggressive forechecking system they used to employ throughout a contest.

“I thought everybody played hard and they were committed to what they were doing. It is a new way for us to play but I think we are liking it,” added Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau on the more defensive approach that his club is using, especially late in games when they have a lead.

- For those of you that regularly read my blog and post game analysis, you know that I will almost always provide the faceoff results for that night’s tilt, usually in the notes portion of the summary. Faceoffs are just a small part of the game but they often indicate a number of things such as effort and a team’s ability to control the puck, and likely the game. On Tuesday night the Capitals destroyed the Montreal Canadiens from the dot, 36-16, and that played a big role in the victory. Nicklas Backstrom (1 assist, +2) was 10-2, Dave Steckel won 15 of 22 draws, and Beagle went 7-4 in a dominant all around performance from the dot.

“I think it is important because road teams can’t get their matchups if you win the faceoffs…Nicky was 9-1 after two and Stecks took a lot of the big draws in the third period and I think he won almost every one of them. Those things, they are little points to the game that are so important. When you usually succeed you do all of the little points right. And I thought we did and that is why you end up with zero goals against,” commented Boudreau on his teams supreme advantage from the faceoff dot against the Canadiens.

“Wow, that’s something we’ve been working on a lot. So to hear that stat is really rewarding. We’ve been doing a lot of work on faceoffs,” added Beagle, who was given the red hard hat by his teammates for his outstanding game. It was #83′s first ever hard hat in 17 games at the NHL level with Washington over the past three seasons.

- Washington went shorthanded five times on Tuesday and once again the penalty killing unit was super strong in 8:27 of time. Winning the faceoffs is the first key to stopping the opponents man advantage and the Caps excelled at those key defensive zone draws while down a man in this one. Another big factor to killing penalties is the play of your goaltender and Varlamov was outstanding, especially in the opening seven minutes when the Habs were given two early power plays and had some of their best chances of the evening. The Capitals aggressive penalty killing scheme would not have been totally successful without players sacrificing their body and laying out to block shots. One of those key ones came from Mike Knuble in the third period with Montreal pressing to cut into the Caps lead. Washington’s PK unit has now killed off 16 consecutive shorthanded situations and is 22 of 23 (95.7%) in the last six games. The Caps are up to sixth in the NHL in penalty killing percentage at 84.8% after being under 80% and in the bottom third of the league in 2009-10.

- On the other side of the special teams equation, the Caps went 0 for 8 on the power play, however five of the eight opportunities did provide numerous good chances but Montreal goalie Carey Price (27 saves) was excellent or received some luck. #31 stopped Ovechkin in tight all alone in the first period, denied Eric Fehr on several other shots, and Knuble also missed a tap in in the final period when the Great #8 made a super move and pass to #22 on the door step, but the Michigan alum shot it wide. On the good power play chances, the Caps had a lot of movement and the passes were quick and accurate. But on the two or three disappointing man advantage situations either the Capitals had a hard time getting the puck in the zone and setting up or they resorted to holding onto the puck too long in an attempt to make the perfect passing play. Green and Backstrom were the main culprits when the power play sputtered but overall those two guys did a good job when it was working well, too.

“We had seven or eight really good chances so I can take some solace from that but I think the boys would like to have some results from that, as well,” said Boudreau on his power play unit that has been blanked in 19:27 of time over the last two games.

- With Mathieu Perreault and Marcus Johansson out with injuries, the Caps called up Keith Aucoin to play second line center and #20 saw 11:47 of action. The 2009-10 AHL MVP had an up and down game but one of the keys to the Washington victory was the play of the other Hershey callups, such as Beagle, who adds speed and size to Washington’s forward crew. On Tuesday the bigger Capitals front units gave the Canadiens fits in their zone all evening. #83 has been very impressive and he will be tough to take out of the lineup after another strong performance (goal and +1 in 9:52 of ice time). His backhanded tally, after coming off of the rear boards, was a thing of beauty.

“I didn’t actually, I had forehand and it just happened when I took a look that two guys kind of came to my forehand and I heard [Jason Chimera] yelling on my left and [Eric Fehr] was going to the net so I knew if I threw it on the net good things would happen and it went in,” finished Beagle, when I asked him if he was thinking backhand when he received the puck deep in the Montreal zone.

Notes: Washington is 4-0-1 when a Hershey recalled player scores a goal…the Caps are 12-1-4 when scoring the first goal of the game…Fehr recorded an assist, six shots on goal and a +2 rating in 13:50 of ice time. He played well and could have had more points if not for Price…Green extended his point streak to three games (2 goals, 1 assist) and registered a season-high six shots on goal. #52 registered a game-high 28:19 of ice time and has now led the Caps in ice time in 28 of his 33 games, surpassing 30 minutes six times this season…d-man Jeff Schultz returned after missing the last nine games due to a fractured thumb. #55 was solid, logging 13:16 of ice time…the Capitals are off until Saturday at 1pm, when they take on the Pittsburgh Penguins at Heinz Field on NBC in the annual NHL Winter Classic on January 1st.