Absolutely nothing went the Capitals way on Friday night in Ottawa. Craig Anderson made several good saves plus was a little lucky when he had to be, Washington made some huge defensive gaffes, and the officiating was downright horrible. When you add that all up it leads to a Caps shutout loss, 2-0, to the Senators. The defeat drops the Capitals record to 43-22-10 (96 points) but they still lead the Southeast Division by seven points as a result of Tampa’s 4-3 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.

Here are the highlights and analysis of a game in which the NHL Director of Officiating, Terry Gregson, should be pretty embarrassed about:

- Anderson (31 saves) was very good for the Sens but he was also the beneficiary of some overpassing by Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin on a Washington power play in the second period when the game was scoreless. In addition, rookie Marcus Johansson rifled one through #41′s pads in the third period but the puck just trickled wide and an Ottawa defender scooped it out of harm’s way. Still, the journeyman goalie, who recently signed a big four year contract ($12.75M total) to stay in Ottawa, was very solid and calm in net and was easily the game’s number one star.

- The Caps made some big mistakes in their own zone and it cost them on both Ottawa goals. On the first tally, Scott Hannan chased Jason Spezza the wrong way around the Capitals cage and that allowed #19 to put a pass in front to a streaking Colin Greening out of the corner. Greening badly beat Caps d-man John Erskine to the front of the net but the puck hit both of his skates and then he interfered with Semyon Varlamov (21 saves) as he knocked the puck in the cage with his skate for an Ottawa 1-0 lead at 12:25 of the middle frame. Referee Stephane Auger called it a goal but then huddled with the other zebra, Kelly Sutherland. After they conferred with the league in Toronto, the goal stood despite being obvious goalie interference, which apparently is not reviewable. On the second Senators goal, early in period three, Karl Alzner blindly throws the puck up the boards right to Milan Michalek, who feeds it to Erik Condra in the slot. #38 then slid one by Varly as he went down too late into the butterfly position. There were other poor plays by the Washington defensemen on this night that didn’t lead to goals. Overall I would grade the defense as “below average” in this contest. They only gave up 23 shots but they made some big mistakes that will cost them in the post season if they don’t clean it up.

- As for the offense, the Caps did have the 31 shots but there were not a lot from in front of the cage. The Capitals showed some very good puck movement on their first two power plays and Brooks Laich looked excellent on the right point, but Semin made several wrong decisions with the biscuit that prevented Washington from lighting the lamp. On one sequence #28 held onto the puck below the goal line and skated up the right wing boards when Backstrom was wide open in front. He also was a victim of too many moves and over passing on some down low two on ones with the man advantage. Backstrom also tried to force a pass when he had a great chance on Anderson with the game scoreless. The Capitals routinely didn’t get pucks deep and cycle the Senators defense, who likely would have tired having played in New York the night before. Simply put, this was a LAZY offensive effort by Washington, in my book.

- Varlamov, who started for the first time since winning in Buffalo on February 20th, was good in goal. He had to face some quality chances and he did fairly well. He’d probably like another shot at the 2nd goal but Alzner did help Michalek put that one on a tee for Condra. Michal Neuvirth was slated to start this game but came down with an illness and it is possible that Braden Holtby could be recalled for Saturday’s game in Montreal either to start or backup Varly.

- As for the officiating, it was definitely the worst Caps game I’ve seen called all season. I’ve already talked about the mistake on the Senators first goal, which was the result of goalie interference, but there were two other BLATANT mistakes made in this game. First, Matt Hendricks took a stick to the head early on but after an initial high sticking penalty was called on David Hale, and it should have been a double minor since #26 was cut, the referees took #36 out of the penalty box. Shortly thereafter Al Koken of Comcast interviewed assistant coach Bob Woods on the bench who told him that the referees thought that Hendricks was cut with a skate. If you ask me, not only were the four referees blind for missing that, but they are also stupid. If a skate was up that high around Hendricks head and caught him where he was cut, he likely would have lost his eye and bled pretty badly. The other big miss was on a clean shoulder check on Patrick Wiercioch by Matt Bradley above the goal line. Wiercioch went down hard and slid into the boards. Somehow the referees called it boarding prompting Hockey Night in Canada’s Jeff Marek to question that logic via Twitter. Bradley also got jumped for the clean check by Zack Smith and the Caps would have had a power play if boarding wasn’t called on #10. Finally, the game was also called very inconsistently with hits and holds not very clearly defined, which had to make it tough for the players to know what the rules were on this given night. After the game on Twitter, HNIC’s Cassie Campbell stated how bad the officiating was and referenced the no call on the high stick to Hendricks. Gregson and the NHL cannot let this type of officiating happen starting April 13th.

- The Caps are now 3-2 on this six game road trip and they once again played without Alexander Ovechkin, Jason Arnott, Mike Green, Eric Fehr, and Tom Poti. On Monday we should know more about the status of those five with Green’s injury being the most concerning. Saturday’s tilt in Montreal is the final meeting between the Caps and the Canadiens in the regular season (Caps are 2-0-1). Right now the Habs sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and both teams could meet again in the first round of the playoffs depending on what happens down the stretch.

Notes: Dennis Wideman led the Caps in ice time with 24:25. Laich led the Caps forwards playing 23:30…the Capitals were smoked on faceoffs, 32-19. Johansson went 1-9 and Backstrom was 7-13…Washington had five shots on net on their three power plays. They only gave up four shots while shorthanded on three attempts.

With no Alexander Ovechkin, Mike Green, or Jason Arnott in the lineup on Tuesday night, it was going to be a very tough chore for the Washington Capitals to beat the Philadelphia Flyers, who were also without Chris Pronger, in their own barn. Thanks to some pretty poor Philly goaltending though, the Capitals managed to jump to a 3-0 lead, totally gave it away with some listless play, then rallied late to tie it on a Marcus Johansson rocket, and won, 5-4,  in the gimmick when all three Caps shooters beat Brian Boucher, who replaced an awful Sergei Bobrovsky early in period two. The Capitals left town pretty much “stealing” two points and with the Tampa Bay Lightning losing at home to the New York Islanders, 5-2, Washington now has a seven point lead in the Southeast Division with eight games remaining (the Bolts have a game in hand). Overall the Caps improve to 43-21-10 (96 points) and they are just a single point behind the Flyers for first place in the Eastern Conference.

Here are the highlights and analysis of the fourth straight overtime game the Caps and Flyers have played this season (both teams won two):

- Any of you who listened to my segment with Stephen Pepper and Russell Waxman over at Japers Rink Radio a few Saturday’s back know that I was not high at all on the Flyers because of their weak goaltending. Tonight’s performances by Bobrovsky (6 saves on 9 shots) and then Boucher (13 saves on 14 shots but 0 stops in the shootout) only solidified my opinion of that club. Philadelphia has some serious talent up front, but if their goalies continue to resemble the “Shooter Tutor” they are gonna be golfing come late April.

- On the flip side, Michal Neuvirth (29 saves on 33 shots) didn’t have his best game but he battled hard behind a Capitals team that seemed to lose their legs for large stretches of this contest. #30 also benefitted from a couple of Flyers shots off of the iron. In the end he managed to be the last goalie standing and he is making his pitch to be the number one goalie come playoff time for Washington.

- The best two forwards for Washington in this game were Mike “Fountain of Youth” Knuble (1 goal, 2 assists, +2) and Marcus Johansson (1 goal, 1 assist, +2). #22 is coming on strong in March like he historically has done and he did not look like a 38 year old player in this tilt. Knuble totally outworked Sean O’Donnell on the Caps second goal and on the game tying tally, he was really strong down low on the boards and found MJ90 wide open in  the very high slot. Johansson just continues to amaze me. A 20 year old kid in his first year in North America should logically be hitting the wall right now but that is not the case with the young Swede. He is clearly a very smart young man as he continues to get better and better and his skating ability is out of this world. He is so smooth and fast. I like the way he’s gotten stronger below the circles and he is starting to fire the puck, and we saw tonight on the fourth goal how good his shot can be. Kudos to MJ90 because I am not sure where the Capitals are this last month or so if he hadn’t taken his game to the elite level while Nicklas Backstrom and Arnott have alternated being out of the lineup at center.

- Jason Chimera, (1 assist, +2) who played with Knuble and Johansson, had his best game in a long time. He was one of the few Capitals forwards who was physical. Backstrom (1 goal, 1 assist, -1) had a mixed bag of a game as did Brooks Laich (1 assist, -1) but I blame that on the completely uninspired play of Alexander Semin (0 points, -1). #28 was pretty much taken out of this game early by Philadelphia with some rough play and as a result, Semin rarely battled hard for the puck like he can when he is motivated. He took a careless double minor, only had three shots on goal, and his terrible shift late in period two led to the second Flyers goal, which gave them tons of momentum going into period three. Semin was awful except for the shootout, where fittingly, he was the one to score last and give Washington the victory. Sasha, plain and simple, you need to be better going forward (I would wager that Arnott tells #28 that next time he sees him).

- Flyers captain Mike Richards had 0 shots on goal in 20 plus minutes of action. In a stat that is directly related to the line on Richards, Caps first year defensemen Karl Alzner and John Carlson played 26:15 and 27:19, respectively, and were not on the ice for a goal against. That is some impressive work from what has become a shut down d-pair for Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau.

- Despite being out played for much of this game, the Capitals should feel pretty good about some things tonight. They won without three of their best players, they are now 3-1 two-thirds of the way through a very tough six game road trip, and most importantly, when Philadelphia went up 4-3 late they did not quit, they came back strong and found a way to win. That to me was the biggest takeaway from this contest, that the Caps are a much more resilient squad than last season’s Presidents’ Trophy winning crew. Washington looked dead to rights in this contest when the Flyers made it 4-3, but Boudreau’s club didn’t feel sorry for themselves and grinded out two points.

Notes: Washington lost the faceoff battle, 31-24, but Jay Beagle was 5-1…Caps d-man Dennis Wideman (1 goal, -1, in 24:20) was on the ice for every goal scored for both teams…Eric Fehr, who returned after missing two games due to an upper body injury, played only 9:26 and likely was injured again. He had just a single shift after the first 40 minutes…the Caps, who led 2-0 after period one, are now 17-1-5 when leading after the first 20 minutes this season…next up for the Caps are the Ottawa Senators on Friday night, followed by a date with the Montreal Canadiens on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. Ovechkin, Arnott, and Green likely won’t play in any of those games.

Big news out of Kettler Iceplex today as Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau stated that Alexander Ovechkin would be out for an estimated seven to 10 days to deal with an injury situation. Naturally, with the NHL playoffs just over three weeks away, the exact nature of the injury will not be disclosed, much like with the Jason Arnott announcement one week ago today. The Great #8 joins Arnott, Mike Green, Eric Fehr, and Tom Poti as key components who are out of the Washington lineup right now. While on the surface this might seem like a big blow to the Capitals Stanley Cup chances, in reality, it isn’t. In fact, being extra cautious with ailing players right now makes a ton of sense and could likely pay off over the next few months.

Washington is in pretty good shape to lock up their fourth straight Southeast Division title with a five point lead on the Tampa Bay Lightning and even if they did manage to lose that margin over their last nine games (the Bolts have 10 tilts left), would it really matter? Likely not at all, as the Caps are going to be in the post season and what happens then and beyond is all this team will be judged on. Since training camp opened we’ve heard the organization talk about the first 82 games not mattering too much this year. General Manager George McPhee told me on Media Day back in October that he “really didn’t care about the regular season, as long as [the Caps] make the playoffs.” One could argue that every decision since then, from the schematic switch from an aggressive offensive system to a more responsible defensive posture all the way up to the moves made on NHL trade deadline day have been about one thing – doing what is needed to increase the likelihood that the Capitals play their best hockey in the post season this spring.

As good as last season’s team was in a Presidents’ Trophy winning regular season, everyone witnessed the first round collapse and McPhee and Boudreau have been doing everything in their power to not let it happen again this season. Examining the club on paper, position by position, I don’t think there is any doubt that the 2010-11 Washington Capitals team, despite all of the criticism they’ve received this year, is a much better one heading into April than last year’s crew. With Arnott at second line center they finally have that big pivot man that is needed in the post season. #44 is a significant upgrade over last year’s second line center, Eric Belanger. In fact, add in rookie Marcus Johansson and the Nicklas Backstrom/Arnott/MJ90 trio is likely the best Washington has had up the middle in the Boudreau era.

On defense, the top five blue liners are Green, Dennis Wideman, John Carlson, Scott Hannan, and Karl Alzner. Boudreau can either go with Poti, if he is healthy, or opt for Jeff Schultz or John Erskine as his sixth defenseman, depending on the opponent. This is a major improvement over last year’s crew that included Joe Corvo and Shaone Morrisonn, two mediocore, at best, blue liners. Alzner didn’t even arrive on the scene in last year’s post season until game seven and by then it was too late. #27 is +15 in his first full season in the NHL.

In net, 2010-11 will be the first time in three seasons that the Capitals don’t have to start Jose Theodore in game one of the playoffs, thank goodness. Theo failed miserably in goal and whether Boudreau goes with the more NHL playoff experienced Semyon Varlamov or rookie Michal Neuvirth, who incidentally hasn’t ever lost a North American playoff series (h/t @JapersRink), it doesn’t matter, the goaltending should be better. Of course if both falter or are injured, rookie Braden Holtby, who won the NHL’s first star of the week on March 14th, is also an option.

Down the stretch in 2009-10, the majority of the Caps headlines were all about the regular season dominance and individual statistics and trophies. Both Ovechkin and Green were positioned for post season hardware nominations while Alexander Semin was focused on a 40 goal season in an attempt to try and maximize his free agent earning power for the summer of 2011. During that closing stretch #52 took a slash to the arm in Columbus and was never right for the post season. Ovechkin also played out the string and after the series was over it was revealed he was banged up as well. Following that game seven loss, the mad dash for stats, trophies, and big contracts all seemed so futile.

Flash forward to now, especially since #44 arrived on deadline day, and we are reading about Ovechkin and Semin spending lots of time with Arnott picking his brain about what it takes to win in the post season (thanks @dcsportsbog). In my mind, #28 played his best hockey of the season when he was finally paired with a true second line center in Arnott, much like he did when Sergei Fedorov was here in 2008 and 2009. Semin re-upped for another year here and there is no more talk from him or his agent about “the dollars.” It seems that the two young Russians stars are on a mission to shut their critics up once and for all and that they just might have matured as a result of the Capitals past playoff disappointments.

Like I said earlier, on paper this team is better than last year’s at this stage, but that heavily depends on the health of Ovechkin, Arnott, Backstrom, Semin, and Green, as well as a few others. Therefore, the cautious approach to the last nine games of the NHL regular season that both McPhee and Boudreau appear to be taking makes great sense and hopefully will pay dividends for them starting April 13th and beyond, when health and the matchups will be huge factors in the quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup. It’s only 23 days away, but who’s counting?

For nearly 50 minutes, the Washington Capitals played a very solid road game in pursuit of their 10th straight victory. But then Mike Knuble took a bad penalty in the offensive zone and Henrik Zetterberg scored shortside on Michal Neuvirth from a bad angle and Detroit went on to win, 3-2. The Capitals once again dressed a depleted lineup without their top two injured centers in Nicklas Backstrom and Jason Arnott as well as their top defenseman, Mike Green. With Eric Fehr also out of the lineup due to an upper body injury suffered the previous night in Montreal, DJ King dressed for Washington. The loss drops the Caps record to 41-21-10.

Here are the highlights and analysis of a game in which the Caps had a good chance to steal at least a point up until the infraction by Knuble:

- After a dominant performance in Montreal on Tuesday night it was clear the Caps were extremely tired in Motown. The Wings routinely beat them to the puck and that translated into Detroit dominance on the shot board (35-28). Detroit took advantage of a fatigued Caps club on the rush all night by backing the Washington defenseman up and then finding the late guy in the slot for quality chances. The Capitals forwards did not back check nor apply pressure well and the Wings made them pay. Both of the first two Detroit tallies were the result of players being found in the slot for shots or a via a tip in.

- Neuvirth (32 saves) had a mixed bag of a game but a lot of that was on the guys in front of him who didn’t allow him to see the puck a whole lot in this tilt. Detroit did a great job of getting traffic and if they could have hit the net more this game might have been more lopsided on the scoreboard. For most of the contest #30 did not give up many rebounds and he froze the biscuit often in an attempt to slow the game down and his give club some rest. However, on the game winner by Zetterberg (2 goals), he went down too soon, gave up the near post and the crafty Swedish veteran made the young goalie pay. So the combination of a really bad and lazy penalty by #22 and a goaltending mistake cost Washington success in the Motor city.

- In order for Washington to win they were going to need their star players and their goalie to deliver big performances. Neuvirth did his job for nearly 50 minutes but the Great #8 (26:01 of ice time) and Semin didn’t get it done, especially #28. Ovechkin did have a nice goal after a decent feed from Semin, but the team did not get enough rubber on Jimmy Howard (26 saves), who is not known as one of the better goalies in the league, because he is not. Semin only had two shots on net and he has not looked good now in two straight games with #44 out of the lineup. He was a definite passenger on Wednesday night despite hitting the post very late in the contest. Ovechkin ended with seven shots on goal but he had 0 until his 29th goal of the season came over 25 minutes into the game.

- With Arnott and Green out, the Capitals power play looked more anemic than usual. Ovechkin saw more time at the point and he was awful. In his defense, none of the other power play guys were any good either. Every Cap held onto the biscuit too long, didn’t move enough, and failed to shoot the puck. In four man advantage attempts, the Capitals only had five shots on net, that is downright terrible.

- In summary, you could see this loss coming given all of the injuries but Washington had a chance in the third period in a tie game to keep things rolling but a couple of mental mistakes cost them. Next up are the red hot New Jersey Devils on Friday night on the third game of this grueling road trip with likely the same depleted lineup, that one will be a tough win as well.

Notes: Brian Rafalski (3 assists, +2) was the best player on the ice tonight. The Detroit d-man is really good…the Wings smoked the Caps on face-offs 35-21 with Brooks Laich going 4-15…Dennis Wideman led the Caps in ice time with 27:54. #6 got hit with the puck at least twice and also was shoved in the back of the head behind the Washington net by a Red Wing early on. That guy is as tough as advertised…Matt Hendricks was -2 and was one of the forwards who really struggled with coverage in the Caps zone.

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.

After two thrilling and draining victories on the road in Florida where the Caps seized first place in the Southeast Division for the first time since December, Washington came home to Verizon Center to face one of the worst teams in the NHL in the Edmonton Oilers. The question of the night for Capitals fans was which version of their team would show up? After 25 minutes the answer wasn’t really clear in a scoreless game but shortly thereafter the Caps took over in dominating fashion with Alexander Ovechkin potting two goals and adding an assist and Eric Fehr, who returned to the lineup after missing the last 22 games due to a bad shoulder, tallied twice as well. Alexander Semin (1 goal, 1 assist) capped the scoring on a pretty give and go with newcomer Marco Sturm and Braden Holtby earned his first NHL shutout stopping 22 shots.

The victory was Washington’s sixth straight and they improve to 38-20-10 (86 points) to remain two points up on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Southeast Division (The Bolts beat Chicago, 4-3, in a shootout, aka the “Carnival Game” as coined by Greg Wyshynski over at Puck Daddy). The Lightning have a game in hand on the Caps. Washington is also now in second place in the Eastern Conference, just two points behind Philadelphia (who have two games in hand).

Here are the highlights and analysis of the Capitals first victory by more than a goal in their last eight wins:

- On paper, this doesn’t look like it was a tough shutout for Holtby but I beg to differ. The 21 year old from Saskatchewan received no goal support for the first 25 minutes and with the game scoreless he had to face Andrew Cogliano on a shorthanded breakaway after an Ovechkin turnover. #70 made a nice pad save and then the Great #8 paid Holtby back with a power play goal on the ensuing rush. Jason Arnott made a super pass to set Ovie up for an easy marker. Holtby faced 10 of his 22 shots in the first period and once the Caps seized the lead, his night did become a lot easier. Still, with Holtby, Michal Neuvirth, and Semyon Varlamov the Capitals continue to be loaded with young goalies. General Manager George McPhee and his scouts have drafted well and the two goalie coaches since the trio was selected, first Dave Prior and now Arturs Irbe, deserve a great deal of credit for their development. In addition, the kids themselves get kudos for listening, competing, and getting better. All three of them are fierce competitors. Heck, who can forget Holtby tomahawk chopping Evgeny Kuznetsov in development camp last July after the young Russian did too much showboating after a goal in a scrimmage? And don’t forget that Neuvirth had to listen to Jonathan Bernier hype last May when the Hershey Bears were set to face the Manchester Monarchs in the AHL Eastern Conference Finals. In that series Neuvy totally outplayed the Kings first round draft pick, who was the first goalie chosen in the 2006 draft (same one in which the Caps took both Varlamov and Neuvirth). All three aforementioned Capitals goalies has at least one shutout this season (h/t Caps Media Relations department).

- After a franchise record of 43 games without doing so, Washington finally scored two power play goals in a contest (h/t Mike Vogel), and as hard as it is to believe, it was Ovechkin’s first home PPG of the 2010-11 season. The Great #8 scored his down low after a great cross ice feed from Arnott from the right point. The second power play goal is what this team needs more of - a John Carlson point blast with Brooks Laich and Fehr in front (Fehr banged home a lose puck). The additions of #44 and Dennis Wideman now gives Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau much more flexibility with his power play units and he can take the Great #8 off of the point for at least half of the two minutes, especially when Mike Green returns to the lineup later in the month (more on that in the Notes below). The Caps were 2 for 5 with the man advantage and 4 for 4 on the PK against the worst special teams club in the NHL. Edmonton is ranked dead last in the league on the power play and is 29th out of 30 teams in penalty killing. Despite the weak competition, the Capitals needed to have a night of success on the PP in order to get their confidence with it going up again.

- The Saturday before the trade deadline I had an email discussion about the Capitals with NHL On The Fly’s Craig Button and he was quick to point out that a return of Fehr to the lineup would help a struggling power play unit. He was clearly right and #16 was playing his best hockey of the season right before he was injured in a collision with Dave Steckel in January. Fehr can play on any of the top three lines and I really like it when assistant coach Dean Evason puts the big bodied forward in front of the opposing goalie with either Mike Knuble or Laich on the power play. There is no substitute for big players who are tough to move from in front of the cage (see former Flyers tap in machine Tim Kerr back in the 80′s).

- There were several Capitals players who had good outings on Wednesday night but rookie Marcus Johansson continues to take his game to a higher level. With Nicklas Backstrom missing his first NHL game ever (stopping a streak of 341 straight contests), MJ90 got the tough task of centering Ovechkin, something he had not had much success with this year, granted it has only been a handful of games. Tonight, the two seemed to finally show some comfort together and the third tally of the night, which broke the game open in the third period, was of the highlight reel variety. The Great #8 hustled in the offensive zone and stole the puck from Kurtis Foster allowing he and the young Swede to go in alone on Nikolai Khabibulin (31 saves). The two made four quick passes to get the 2004 Stanley Cup winning goalie moving back and forth like a tennis ball and Ovechkin finished the deal with a top shelf wrister inside the right post. Johansson has definitely improved since the all star break and instead of hitting the rookie wall, like one would expect, he has taken his game to an even higher level in the last three Capitals victories (2 assists, +2 in those 3 games plus played over 17 minutes in last two tilts).

- Overall this was a solid win but Washington still has gone 12 straight games without leading after the first 20 minutes. The six game winning streak is nice but this team still has lots of room for improvement. But they have been winning through injuries to Green, Fehr, Backstrom, Varlamov, and Tom Poti so once Boudreau gets his full complement of players back and in game shape this team could be a daunting force heading into the post season. The key is for the whole squad to continue to buy in to the defensive mindset and improve their commitment to limiting their turnovers which will force the opposition to chase pucks in their own end.

Notes: Green was placed retroactively on LTIR back to 2/25 to make salary cap room for Fehr to return to the roster. #52 is eligible to return on 3/22 when the Caps face the Flyers in Philadelphia…Backstrom’s fractured thumb was banged up in Tampa on Monday and he might miss Friday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes at the Verzion Center (7 pm) as well…Varlamov skated briefly prior to the pre game skate today (h/t Katie Carrera of The Washington Post)…the Caps are 17-0 when Semin scores a goal this season and 31-0-3 when they tally 3 or more times…the Caps won the face-off battle, 33-22, and Laich won 15 of 21 draws.

The Washington Capitals may not score pretty goals and light up the scoreboard like they did last year, but they continue to become a more resilient bunch this season and one has to think that quality will finally pay dividends for this franchise in the spring for the first time ever. The Caps would not lead after the first period for the eleventh straight contest but they found a way to fight back and get stronger as the game went on despite playing on back to back nights against a rested opponent in the Tampa Bay Lightning. Alexander Semin scored on a gorgeous shot with 5:32 left in regulation and then Alexander Ovechkin notched the only goal in the gimmick to win the game for Washington, 2-1. Braden Holtby came on in relief of Michal Neuvirth, who had metal in his eye after an early shot broke his mask, and he was outstanding stopping all 21 shots he faced, plus all three Bolts shootout attempts. The Caps victory runs their record to 37-20-10 (84 points) and they have a two point margin over the Lightning in the Southeast Division race, but Tampa has a game in hand. Oh, and Washington is now just two points behind the Eastern Conference leading Philadelphia Flyers so the #1 seed in the East is still not out of the question with 15 tilts left in the regular season.

Here are the highlights and analysis of the Caps fifth straight victory, and their eighth consecutive victory by one goal:

- If not for two outstanding saves by Holtby in the middle frame on Simon Gagne, including one with the paddle of his stick when #12′s shot seemed surely destined for the back of the net, and another on Eric Brewer with his left pad late in the game, Washington doesn’t have a chance to come back and win. Holtby was very composed in net in relief of Neuvirth and he also received a break when a Tampa shot hit the pipe right after he came in the game at the start of period two. In addition, the one puck that got by him into the cage was wiped out due to incidental contact by Martin St. Louis in the crease. As impressive as #70 was in the game, and his outstanding stickhandling skills were on display in full force too, he was best in the shootout. In Holtby’s first NHL shootout against the Rangers in early February he was overly aggressive and gave up three goals on four shots. Tonight he didn’t commit early and the result was a perfect three for three against Dominic Moore, Adam Hall, and Vinnie Lecavlier.

- Let’s talk some more about the Caps resiliency I mentioned in the opening of this blog. Last season the Caps struggled when they got behind but this year’s squad has recently developed a sense of calm and is finding a way to scratch out wins when in the past they would have been defeated. We saw it last week late against the Islanders and Blues and once again they rallied in the third period when they should have been out of gas. Nicklas Backstrom (thumb) left the game with just three minutes left in the second period forcing Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau to juggle his lines. The bench boss bumped Jason Arnott up to first line center with Ovechkin and Semin, put Marcus Johansson in the two hole with Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble and then sprinkled in the other five forwards on a third line the rest of the way. Keep in mind the Caps were already without Mike Green, Tom Poti, and Eric Fehr and with their third goalie in the net, the prospect of a victory looked bleak. But the 8-44-28 line found some instant chemistry, in fact Arnott had an open net that he missed on the backhand before Semin tied this one up, and MJ90 turned in another outstanding performance in 17:13 of ice time. The back to back games MJ90 played in Florida may have been his most consistent two contests this season. Clearly this kid, if his minutes are continued to be managed properly, may turn out to be a real plus in the post season instead of having the tank on empty in his first year of playing pro hockey in North America.

- When Semin wants to play, he is as good as there is and his buddy Ovechkin really turned it up late in the game as well. The Great #8 and #28 led a Capitals onslaught in the overtime period that saw them fire 10 shots on Dwayne Roloson (29 saves). The Caps only had 20 shots on goal in the first 60 minutes but the two Russian stars seemed to smell blood in the water, nearly winning the game in the extra session. On one sequence, Ovechkin made two steals and on the first he partially shanked his attempt sending it wide left and on the second one he fed Laich in front but #21 was denied a shot attempt by a trailing Lightning defender. Shortly thereafter Laich drew a penalty off of a faceoff and the Caps ended the OT period with a 1:16 four on three man advantage. The special teams tally on the night was 0 for 3 for the Caps while the Bolts went 1 for 4.

- Steven Stamkos, who leads the NHL in goals with 41 (seven higher than any other player), probably is very happy that he doesn’t have to face the dynamite Washington first year blue line duo of John Carlson and Karl Alzner in the final 16 games of the regular season. #91 has not scored against the Caps in the last five games and the two first round draft choices have stymied the #1 overall pick from the 2008 NHL entry draft. Washington went 4-1-1 against the Bolts this year and Boudreau is 19-3-3 versus Tampa since he took over the Capitals coaching duties in 2007. Yes, I will gladly take a Washington-Tampa first round series since the Lightning have an old goalie and a slow defense.

- In summary, this was another ugly win for the Caps and they ran their record to 7-1 since they started dragging the dads along with them to Florida each year. Clearly the sons do not want to let their proud papas down and they delivered with back to back victories again this year in the Sunshine State. Also, credit needs to go to Caps GM George McPhee for hanging on to his three young goalies at the trade deadline in addition to the two trades he did make. The Arnott and Dennis Wideman acquisitions have been a big factor in this recent winning streak (Caps are 4-0 since those moves).

Notes: The Caps won the faceoff battle, 38-33, but the one Lightning goal came directly off of a Laich loss on a shorthanded draw. Backstrom was 7-0 before departing and Arnott was 12-7 from the dot…Wideman led the Caps in ice time with 28:02 with Ovechkin second at 24:39…d-man Jeff Schultz returned to the lineup and logged a solid 17:13…Semin (6), Laich (5), and Ovechkin (4) combined for half of Washington’s 30 shots on net. Laich nearly won the game in OT but didn’t get his one timer up high enough, but Roloson made a great save too…MJ90 set up Knuble for a good chance in the third period but #22 bobbled the puck when a one timer was needed…next up for the Capitals are the Edmonton Oilers at the Verizon Center on Wednesday night at 7pm.

When Alexander Ovechkin scored just 1:06 into Saturday’s Capitals game against the Los Angeles Kings for their fastest start to a contest all season, it looked like Washington was poised to show that Tuesday’s lackluster loss to the San Jose Sharks following two strong wins against Tampa and Pittsburgh was just a minor bump in the road. Just under 59 minutes of hockey later, after the Kings scored three times in the third period to win 4-1, it looks more and more like the Sharks defeat was a more accurate description of where this Capitals squad is right now, and the picture is not good. The Caps, who held a players only meeting following the contest and then boarded a flight for Phoenix where they will begin a five game road trip on Monday night (8pm on VERSUS), seem to have more questions than answers with the playoffs just two months away and the NHL trade deadline looming on Monday, February 28th at 3pm. Simply put, Washington General Manager George McPhee is likely doing a lot of thinking after this game, which drops the Caps record to 29-17-10, given what he’s seen from his club since December 1st.

So with that lead in, get ready for some hard hitting analysis of an awful loss and a team that currently looks like it will be a one series and done squad in the postseason, unless changes are made:

- To me this was the WORST loss for the Caps all season. I know that they’ve had some stinkers this year like the 7-0 loss to the Rangers or the 5-0 defeats in New Jersey and Atlanta or the listless 3-0 performance in Tampa, but those games came with key players out of the lineup or were the result of tough stretches in the schedule. In today’s debacle THERE ARE NO EXCUSES! Washington had three days to prepare for the Kings and the only players missing were defenseman Tom Poti (chronic groin problem) and right wing Eric Fehr (shoulder). Mike Green was back after missing a game due to a head injury (puck in the noggin vs. the Penguins) and Alexander Semin was in his second straight contest since returning from a lenghty groin problem, so #28 should have had the rust worked off of his game. After a decent first period, in which the Capitals led 1-0 and held the Kings to just four shots on the cage, Washington played horribly and Terry Murray’s team outworked them and showed Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau’s club how to go to the net and get rewarded, something that the Capitals seem to refuse to do.

- At this point in the season the players should be competing hard and making a statement about their respective games if they want to stay on a team that some still believe has a shot at Lord Stanley’s Cup this spring, especially borderline guys like Jeff Schultz, Marcus Johansson, and Mathieu Perreault. #55 was easily the worst player on the ice on Saturday playing on what is supposed to be the team’s top defensive pair with Green. Sarge was -3 in 14:35 and was on for the first three Los Angeles goals. He only played two shifts after the third Kings tally. He was downright awful and slow, and on that third Kings goal I think an orange road cone could have played better defense than what he displayed on that sequence. Schultz doesn’t look anything like the player who went +50 in the 2009-10 regular season and seems to be very much the player who struggled in the post season against Montreal. Boudreau, who broke up the Scott Hannan-Green duo in an attempt to get more balance on his blue line pairs with Poti injured, should reunite 52 and 23 and just drastically cut the ice time of #55 and his likely new partner until #3 returns, John Erskine. I have no idea how this coaching staff and team can have any confidence in Schultz right now, he seems to have lost any step he may have once had.

- As for Perreault and Johansson, I’ve seen enough of these two little guys as the 2nd/3rd line center combo. If you add their ice time together from today it comes to 28:56 total and they were a combined -3. You cannot win with centers performing like that. Perreault had his worst game of the year and too many times he tried to carry the puck into the offensive zone when he had forwards waiting ahead of him at the blue line (typically Brooks Laich). The result of this tactic is often an offside infraction. #85 needs to learn to either pass the puck up to a leading forward and use his quickness to get open for the return pass after the biscuit is carried across the blue line or dump the puck into the offensive zone. His neutral zone puck hogging is zapping the Capitals of any speed entering the offensive zone and if you don’t have that it is very difficult to create time, open space, and scoring opportunities. Perreault also was woefully out of position on the two goals that were scored against his line. Johansson just continues to be a no show on two of every three nights. But he is a rookie and I will give him a little bit of a break. Let’s be honest though, if the Caps had any other decent options at center only one of these guys would be in the lineup, if that. I do not think Washington can win a playoff series unless they go out and upgrade the middle of the ice before the trade deadline because Montreal showed that all you have to do is shut down the Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom line and you can win. I would like to see McPhee try and bring in either R.J. Umberger or Jason Arnott, two players who could be available over the next two weeks. Either one is a big upgrade to the pivot position.

- Semin is sure giving Caps fans a warm and fuzzy about his $6.7M one year contract extension, isn’t he??!! #28 hasn’t scored a goal since November and we’ve all heard the injury excuse but this guy simply is a “ferrari with a volkswagon engine,” as one former NHL executive described him to me last season. He drew a penalty in period two but after that he disappeared and sat the pine with Laich over the last six plus minutes. As for #21, he had a great game against the Penguins last Sunday and a good one in Tampa two nights earlier, but over the last month when taking out those two tilts, he has one goal, one assist, and is -5 in those 10 other games. That doesn’t cut it.

- Boudreau talked after the game about his struggling power play and the excessive amount of work they’ve put in on it in practice over the last month in an attempt to get it back to the 25% success ratio it had in the 2009-10 regular season. The bench boss said he is puzzled why they can’t connect more often given that it is the same players on the ice. He finally sent a message to his top unit by putting out DJ King, Dave Steckel, and Matt Bradley on a man advantage after this one was pretty much over. With those guys on the ice and John Carlson playing the point, the Caps SHOT the puck, something that Ovechkin, Green, Backstrom, and Semin seem to forget you need to do to score goals. Those guys are running a power play these days like it is all about style points by trying to score the prettiest goal possible and it is NOT WORKING. Memo to 8, 52, 28, and 19:  It is not rocket science on how to succeed on the power play, you get the puck to the point and blast away while the other guys crash the net for rebounds. I will also say this for what seems to be the 1,000th time, I don’t like the Great #8 on the point on the power play and he should be on the half wall, where he scored his last PPG against Tampa just eight days ago. Green has to start firing the slapper again like he did back in 2007-08 and if he can’t do it, then Carlson should get even more PP time. I believe that McPhee needs to trade for a heavy left handed point shot at the deadline to help get this unit back on track (Bryan McCabe? Tomas Kaberle?)

- Semyon Varlamov (24 saves) did not have one of his better afternoons. Sure he was left out to dry by the 55-52 duo, but #1 had a hard time with his rebound control today. Still, he was far from the reason why the Caps lost.  Varly and Michal Neuvirth should sue the rest of the club for the non-suport they’ve received over the last two months.

- When the Caps switched to a more defensive hockey posture in mid December, the message was that they were working on that style so that they could use it in the playoffs, when needed. The result has been that the goal scoring has practically disappeared due to the lack of offensive zone pressure that used to create turnovers and scoring opportunities in Boudreau’s aggressive scheme. The players don’t look like they are having fun playing this system, nor do they look like the right combination of guys to do it. McPhee and Boudreau need to take a hard look at this scheme change and determine if it is the correct one, and if so, figure out which guys they should keep around to play it come April. If you ask me, there are a lot of players who could be moved out if a better commodity is made available. Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green, Carlson, Karl Alzner, Mike Knuble and Hannan all appear non-tradeable based on either ability or their contract, but I would have to say that every other skater could be shipped out for the right price in return.

- In summary, the direction this team is going right now leads to early tee times. The thought by some that the Caps can “turn on the switch” and be ready for post season hockey is becoming less realistic as this season has evolved. Bad habits die hard and the Capitals inconsistent play has to give McPhee and Boudreau a major uneasy feeling with just over two weeks until the trading deadline. I’ve seen enough myself, it is time to deal if Washington is to get where they want to be come late May/early June.

Notes: For the second straight game Washington, normally a good faceoff team, was buried from the dot, 27-17. Steckel went 6-4 and every other draw man lost more than they won…after this Monday’s game against the Coyotes, the Caps go to Anaheim on Wednesday and then San Jose on Thursday before finishing in Buffalo and Pittsburgh on Sunday and next Monday, respectively…Tampa blew a two goal lead to Carolina in the last two minutes on Saturday but then won in overtime to increase their Southeast Division lead over the Caps to five points…the 5th place Capitals are eight points ahead of the 9th place Atlanta Thrashers in the Eastern Conference standings.

During the Capitals-Penguins game back on December 23rd at the Verizon Center, Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma was captured on camera by HBO in their superb 24/7 series as saying that Michal Neuvirth was “shaky.” Well Bylsma’s crew may have won that contest, 3-2, in an extended shootout, but as they say, revenge is a dish best served cold. On Super Bowl Sunday at a sold out and rowdy Verizon Center, Neuvirth (22 saves) and his teammates ICED the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-0, in the second straight strong team performance from the Caps. Brooks Laich, Marcus Johansson (shorthanded), and Mike Knuble (empty net goal) scored for Washington, who improved to 29-15-10 (68 points) and remain three points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Southeast Division race. The Caps are a comfortable 10 points ahead of the ninth place Atlanta Thrashers in the Eastern Conference standings and they have a game in hand on Atlanta. The top eight teams in each conference qualify for the postseason.

Below are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from the Caps eighth straight victory on Super Bowl Sunday at the Verizon Center (Washington is 14-3-1 since 1988 on the NFL’s biggest day):

- It was important for Washington to follow up a 60 minute Friday night winning effort in Tampa with another strong showing. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau received all of that in this contest’s first 30 minutes as Washington raced out to a 2-0 lead and held a dominating 17-8 advantage on the shots board. For the next 14 plus minutes the Capitals would skate hard and deliver a strong effort, however, their hockey IQ was not good at all. Time after time during that stretch Washington had opportunities for quality chances yet they continued to over pass the puck and failed to get off any good shots on Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (21 saves). In fact, from the 9:55 mark of the second period until 4:24 into period three the Caps did not register a single shot on goal. Nicklas Backstrom tried forcing a pass on a two on one rush and Boyd Gordon attempted to pass the biscuit across the slot when he was all alone on #29 were two specific examples of numerous instances during that stretch when a shot on net may have led to a three goal lead. Boudreau’s crew seemed to forget, like they did when up 2-0 on Montreal on Tuesday evening, that the simple hockey strategy of getting pucks deep and to the net were what gave them the lead in those games. Afterwards, Washington defenseman Karl Alzner talked about what the Caps did so well to get the two goal margin and then agreed that the club lost its focus for that shotless stretch before regrouping.

“I think it was just sticking to the system, we did everything the way we wanted to do it. We got pucks in, we didn’t have many turnovers at the offensive blue line, defensive blue line, and that’s what we need every single game. That’s two games back to back where we stuck to everything the coaches told us to do and we got good results,” said #27 on what is driving the team’s recent success.

“We started taking the foot off of the gas a little and they put on a bit of a push. When you have a lead sometimes the tendency is to make nice plays to try to get more points and more goals on the board and that is what was happening. We came back after the intermission and we’ve got a lot of guys who are thinking the right way now, just kind of focus back in together and turn it up again,” added Alzner when asked what happened during the last 10 minutes of the second period.

- Neuvirth, who found out on Saturday night that he possibly would be starting with Semyon Varlamov feeling sick, was poised in the cage and did a super job of not giving up juicy rebounds and he froze the puck when the Capitals occassionally started scrambling around in their own zone. He didn’t have to be spectacular because his teammates were willing to sacrifice their bodies to block shots but #30 was clearly determined to make Bylsma regret his in game comments from that pre-Christmas tilt.

“Of course. I watched every episode (of HBO’s 24/7), but this is hockey. It didn’t really bother me. But now I’m really happy that I shut them down. It’s even better for me right now. Before the game, I remembered when he said that and I kind of looked at him during the warm up and told myself that I got to shut these guys out tonight,” responsed the rookie goalie, who earned his second shutout of the season and NHL career, when asked about Bylsma’s 24/7 captured comments.

- The Caps did right the ship during those last 15 minutes of period three by getting back to dumping the puck deep and forcing a depleted Pittsburgh squad, that was without Sidney Crosby (concussion) and likely Evgeni Malkin for the season (torn ACL and MCL in his knee), to try and go through all five Capitals to score. Washington, who was also missing Alexander Semin, Eric Fehr, and Tom Poti, plus lost top defensemen Mike Green for the last two periods due to a shot that hit him near the ear and required stitches, played their defensive system superbly and when guys like superstar Alexander Ovechkin are laying out on the ice to block slappers from the point, you know the team is committed to winning at all costs.

“It’s all about commitment. It’s a commitment to winning. You block shots, one of your teammates goes down, another one picks it up,” commented Boudreau on the excellent defensive effort.

- Washington’s power play, which went 0 for 4, did have several good chances to score on Sunday as the Capitals did a decent job of getting the puck between the dots at the top of the point and blasting away. Ovechkin had a few slappers that made their way to the cage and the Caps just missed banging home rebounds from in front. The Capitals had registered man advantage markers in their two previous games and Boudreau felt that this unit was good once again on Sunday.

“I thought we could have had three or four. Sometimes you just don’t get it in and you are playing against the league’s best penalty killing team. But we had good chances and bottom line there is Fleury made some great saves there in the end to keep it at two,” said Boudreau on his power play unit.

“It’s really tough, guys they sacrifice their bodies all of the time now. They block absolutely everything. So it’s difficult. That is why we are trying to move the puck, spread it out as much as we can and get shots. Nobody likes when we don’t shoot the puck, we can hear that, but sometimes you just can’t do it. You have to shoot it off to the side of the net there or make plays. It doesn’t always work out but you do what you can,” added Alzner when asked about the difficulty in today’s NHL of getting off center point blasts with the man advantage.

- There were no penalties called in the first period and with the majority of the action in the Caps offensive zone it was clear that referee Dave Jackson was going to let the teams play in front of him. I was fine with that and I imagine the players and coaches did as well. As for the other zebra, Paul Devorski, one of the worst officials in the league still needs to buy a clue. Specifically, the man who allowed the Flyers to score their first goal in game seven of their 2008 playoff series against Washington because Philly ran Caps goalie Cristobal Huet, still has no idea on how to properly call goaltender interference. On Sunday, Matt Hendricks was shoved into Fleury while Knuble appeared to score the Capitals second goal and #10, instead of waving the goal off due to coincidental contact with the net minder and calling for a faceoff, said no goal and also assessed #26 with a two minute minor for goalie interference. It was a terrible interpretation of the rules, but fortunately for Washington they scored shorthanded on Johansson’s screened backhander with just five ticks left in the Penguins man advantage. Devorski also only assesed Pittsburgh cheap shot artist Matt Cooke a two minute minor when he delivered an ugly knee to knee hit on Ovechkin late in the contest. The Great #8 was luckily okay but one can’t help but wonder how Cooke, who has a history of dirty play, escaped a major and what should be a suspension? After all, Ovechkin received a five minute major, game misconduct, and then a two game suspension for a similar play in Carolina last season.

“I’m never going to say anything bad about an official. They are watching from their own eyes, they are seeing what they are seeing and they are making calls that they think are right. I am not always going to agree with them, on the same point, but I didn’t feel like I purposely went into the goaltender, I felt like I was pushed from behind. I don’t think I was in the blue. I think Fleury was out quite a bit out of his crease. That’s the game I play, the style I play, those things are going to happen. It’s tough when we score a goal too,” said Hendricks on the goalie interference infraction he was incorrectly assessed.

“It’s Matt Cooke, okay, need we say more. It’s not like it’s his first rodeo, he’s done it to everybody and then he goes to the ref and says ‘What did I do?’ He knows damn well what he did. There is no doubt in my mind that he’s good at it and he knows how to do it and he knows how to pick this stuff. We as a league still buy into this, that ‘Oh, it still was an accidental thing’,” said Boudreau on the dirty play by #24 against his former teammate, Ovechkin.

Notes: Despite the fact that everyone who knows anything about hockey and Dave Steckel realizes that the contact he had with Crosby on New Years Day was incidental, Penguins forward Tim Wallace tried to make a name for himself by challenging #39 to a 3rd period fight, which Steckel obliged…the Capitals dominated the Pens from the dot winning 32 of 49 draws. Backstrom was a sensational 14-3…Johansson and Mathieu Perreault, two young small centermen, have had back to back strong contests but Boudreau has often commented that he’s seen flashes of this before and wants consistency from the pair. He also mentioned today that MJ90 has had to deal with numerous differences in the NHL game and he pointed out that in the Swedish league that Marcus played in last season skaters aren’t even allowed to use their feet to win a faceoff…Green was dressed and doing interviews after the victory but I suspect the area where he took the puck will swell and it might be wise to sit him out until he is totally healthy. “He’s day-to-day. He’s got a little bit of a headache right now. You get hit in the head with a puck and you’re gonna have a headache. We’ll reevaluate him tomorrow,” added Boudreau….the Caps killed off both Penguins power plays and are still ranked 2nd in the NHL on the PK (86.3%)…Boudreau improved to 10-1-3 in his tenure against the Penguins and the Capitals are 9-0-2 in the last 11 regular season meetings versus Pittsburgh…Semin is expected to play in Washington’s next game against San Jose at the Verizon Center on Tuesday night. #28 hasn’t played since early January.

With 20 minutes to go in Sunday’s contest against the Ottawa Senators, the Washington Capitals were trailing 1-0, and were staring at the possibility of their seventh shutout loss of the season. However, the Caps ramped up their intensity big time, became more physical, and played arguably their best 20 minutes in a long time, scoring three goals, including John Carlson’s game winning goal on the power play, en route to a much needed 3-1 victory. The win halted a three game losing streak and vaulted the Capitals (25-14-7) back into a tie for first place in the Southeast Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning (26-15-5). Both teams have 57 points.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from the victory, the Capitals league leading 13th win of the season after allowing the first goal to their opponent:

- Carlson was voted the number one star of the game, but my top performer was Michal Neuvirth (22 saves). #30 was one of the few players to show up when the puck was dropped and the only tally he allowed, to Mike Fisher in a goal mouth scramble after Mike Green failed to clear the biscuit from the door step just 1:12 into the game, was not his fault. With the Senators carrying the play in the first period, they outshot Washington 9-5, Neuvirth shut the door on Ottawa giving his club a chance to regroup for period two and get their legs going. But the second period was a struggle early on again for the Capitals and in that stanza the two time AHL Calder Cup winning goalie made the save of the game on Filip Kuba. Kuba pinched down into the slot and he took a perfect centering feed on his forehand and fired it towards the top left corner of the cage. The calm and collected Neuvirth quickly lifted his blocker and deflected the puck to the corner to thwart what would have been a seemingly insurmountable two goal hole for Washington. You’ve heard me say this many times this year and I will say it again:  the Capitals do not need another goalie because Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov have been outstanding this season. Varly is 8-6-2 with a .926 save percentage while Neuvy has gone 15-6-4 with a .912 save percentage. Those are some fantastic numbers.

“Our defense did a good job clearing pucks after that (the first Ottawa goal), not giving any second opportunities and Neuvy (Michal Neuvirth) held the fort,” commented Brooks Laich on how his team was able to stay in the game until they could break things open in the third period.

- The third period effort is something that many fans expected to see more of from Washington this season. The Caps skated hard and their aggressive forechecking in the offensive zone was back. In fact, the first goal was set up by a big check on Erik Karlsson by Alexander Ovechkin behind the Sens net. Karlsson, while being hit, sent a wobbly pass to Chris Phillips on the other side of the cage, but with Marcus Johansson bearing down on him he tried to hit Daniel Alfredsson up the middle of the ice. However #4′s pass missed #11 and went right to Laich in the slot and #21 buried it top shelf, far post to tie the game up. That goal, Laich’s first in 13 games, really energized the Capitals and their fans as the building started rocking again.

- Just 43 seconds later Milan Michalek cross checked Karl Alzner in the back in the Caps zone sending #27 flying head first into the boards. It was an extremely cheap and dangerous play and Alzner stayed down for an extended period, then went down the tunnel after being helped to the bench. Clearly the call should have been a five minute major for boarding but the zebras, Ghislain Hebert and Bill McCreary, only gave Michalek two minutes for cross checking. Washington’s struggling power play then finally found a  way to connect as Nicklas Backstrom won the faceoff back to Carlson and #74 blasted it by Elliott (23 saves). The goal, which only took two seconds of time, came just 45 seconds after Laich had tied things up. The Caps would then add an insurance goal with 6:29 left when Jason Chimera scored from the goal line by banking the puck off the back of Elliott, who went down too soon on the right post. That tally involved a lucky bounce but the hard work of Alzner on the boards provided #25 with the opportunity to send the puck on goal.

“Sometimes you try to bank it off them (the goalie) and that time I did and fortunately it went in. Nine times out of ten, it doesn’t go in. Fortunately it worked out,” said Chimera on his sixth goal of the season.

- Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau once again mixed up his lines with Eric Fehr out of the lineup due to a shoulder injury (likely 3-4 weeks) and Andrew Gordon recalled from Hershey. Boudreau put Johansson with Ovechkin and Laich and that line played fairly well, especially in the third period. Johansson was +1 in a career high 22:16 of ice time. He had a couple of golden opportunities, including a perfect set up from Ovechkin in the slot, but he couldn’t connect. MJ90 is getting better along the boards, he actually was credited with two hits in this tilt, but the one thing he needs to really work on is his shot. We need to see more of it and the shots need to be quicker, harder, and on target.

- In addition to the forward line juggling, two of the defensive pairs were switched with Jeff Schultz going back with Green and Scott Hannan played the right side while John Erskine was flanked to his left. Hannan had another strong game in 17:32 of ice time. The 52-55 pair looked like it was headed for a disastrous night after allowing that first goal just 72 seconds into the game but they steadied themselves as the contest went on. The best defensive pair was once again the Carlson-Alzner duo. #74 was +1 in 21:07 and had the game winning goal while King Karl was +2 and had an assist in 19 minutes and 50 seconds of ice time. Alzner, who was shaken up a bit from the dirty hit by Michalek, did come back in the game missing at most one shift.

- One thing Washington did well the entire contest was win faceoffs. The Caps, who are ranked third in the NHL from the dot at a 52.8% success rate, won 43 of the 62 draws in this game. Boyd Gordon was an amazing 8-0 and Backstrom went 13-6. Faceoffs played a huge role in the outcome and the Senators bench boss took notice.

“They [face-offs] are huge. Both [third period] goals were off of a lost face off,” said Ottawa Coach Cory Clouston.

- So a bad week for the Caps, one in which they went 1-2-1, ends up on a high note. They still are not scoring many goals and this was the 16th time in the last 17 games that they have failed to notch more than three tallies but over the last 14 games they’ve only given up 28 goals (just two per game). There are 43 days left before the trade deadline for GM George McPhee to set his roster up for a long playoff run. Based on what I’ve seen over the first 46 games, I think the team is solid in goal and on defense but the forward crew needs upgrading in order to get two lines scoring, something you absolutely have to have to advance in the post season.

Notes: Along with Fehr being out, Alex Semin, Matt Bradley, Tom Poti, and DJ King were also out of the lineup due to injury while d-man Tyler Sloan is in Hershey for a conditioning stint…Green led the team with five hits but he also got rocked hard by Nick Foligno into the back boards right before he took an interference penalty with 33 seconds remaining. Hopefully #52 didn’t reinjure his shoulder on that hit…the Caps now embark on a three game road trip with the first stop in Philadelphia on Tuesday night. I will be covering the game in person and will bring you quotes, highlights, and analysis from a battle against the team with the best record in the Eastern Conference…by the way, please check out Japers Rink Radio, I was on with hosts Stephen Pepper and Russell Waxman for the last 25 minutes of this past Saturday’s show. We touched on all things Caps hockey.