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.

In a battle for first place in the Southeast Division at the Verizon Center on Tuesday night, the Washington Capitals offense totally sputtered again and as a result they were beaten in overtime, by the Tampa Bay Lightning, 1-0, on Martin St. Louis’ rebound goal with 2:16 remaining. Dwayne Roloson, starting his first game for the Bolts since being acquired this past Saturday from the New York Islanders, played very well in net stopping all 34 shots he faced but at the other end Semyon Varlamov (37 saves) was on top of his game as well. The Caps do pick up a point in this tilt and fall to 23-12-6 (52 points) while Tampa is now 24-11-5 (53 points) as they head to Pittsburgh to play the Penguins on Wednesday night.

Here are the highlights and analysis of a contest played before the 83rd straight sellout in DC:

- There were several positives tonight to go along with the strong goaltending from Varly. First the play of John Carlson and Karl Alzner on defense was once again stellar as they kept the Bolts top line of Steven Stamkos, Ryan Malone, and St. Louis off the board in regulation. Second, the Caps dominated from the faceoff dot again going 29-21 with Dave Steckel winning 13 of 18 draws, many of which were key ones down the stretch in his own zone. Finally, the penalty killing was SUPERB in three shorthanded situations allowing only five power play shots on net to the fourth rated unit in the NHL.

- After dominating the second period, the Caps outshot Tampa 21-13 in that middle frame, one would have expected Washington to keep up the pressure in the third period and prevail at home. I’ll give credit to Roloson for his play but let’s face it, the Washington offense is missing in action. Without a real second line center there is enormous pressure on the top line and the power play to convert and they simply aren’t getting it done. Alexander Semin has 0 goals in his last 13 games and I put a good deal of that on the lack of a capable pivot. #28 also needs to pay the price and go into some high traffic areas, as well.

- As for the power play, it is time for coach Bruce Boudreau and assistant coach Dean Evason to blow that thing up, it just is not working (in a 5 for 50 rut). It is very clear that the shots are primarily going to come from one guy, Alexander Ovechkin. Nicklas Backstrom is totally a non threat to shoot the puck on the right wing half wall and that is severely hurting this unit. In addition, Mike Green is not bombing the biscuit from the point so it is really easy to defend a whole side of the Capitals power play. Those two guys have to start shooting the puck, plain and simple. I also would like to see Ovechkin taken off of the point and put on the half wall, similar to how the Penguins use Sidney Crosby. Throw Carlson or even Alzner out there so that the shots coming from the blue line are hard ones. Green and Tom Poti, when put on the point, are not cranking up the slappers and that is what you need to get the pucks bouncing off of the goalies and in position where guys like Mike Knuble, Brooks Laich, Eric Fehr, and even Ovechkin skating in off of the half wall, can bang it home. The coaches keep talking about simplifying but I am not seeing it happening. Perhaps changing the personnel or moving guys around could get better results? Right now it is too predictable and thus easy to defend.

- I am not sure what happened in OT but the Caps didn’t show up and they were outshot, 5-0. Poti started the whole losing goal sequence with a bad decision, he passed the puck across the slot instead of skating it up and out the right wing boards. Then Jeff Schultz, because of the poor pass from #3, threw an off balance clear up the left wing boards that Pavel Kubina gathered in with steam in the neutral zone. Kubina kept charging and Sarge and Laich got confused on who was taking who allowing #13 to drop the puck to Vincent Lecavalier, who fired it on Varly. #1 came out to cut off the angle and gave up a rebound on the excellent shot and then both Poti and Backstrom failed to cover St. Louis as the former league MVP netted the game winner.

- Washington is now 5-0-2 in their last seven games and have only given up nine goals during that stretch. It is clear they can play this trapping system that they have recently began employing and that should help them enormously in the post season, but unless they get some offense going, which they failed to do last spring in the final three games against Montreal, then they aren’t going very far again.

Notes: The Caps will not practice on Wednesday and do not play again until Saturday night against the Florida Panthers at the Verizon Center…Scott Hannan had another strong game on defense and he seems to have settled in well with Green as his defensive partner…Wednesday night at 10 pm on HBO is the final installment of 24/7 and that should be fun to watch since the Capitals won the Winter Classic…Washington reaches the halfway point only two points behind last year’s Presidents’ Trophy winning crew, however, that team won 14 straight games in the second half of the season…Since it is the halfway point of the season, on Thursday night I will post my 4th annual mid season Capitals grades and analysis. I can tell you now that there will not be as many “A’s” as there were at this time last season, although I do think this year’s team is clearly better in some areas (primarily on defense and in goal).

The Washington Capitals shut the critics up tonight. It is as simple as that. For several weeks all this Capitals team has heard was they are underachievers and were no match for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who started this whole build up to the Winter Classic with a twelve game winning streak while the Caps were mired in an eight game skid that was brought on due to injuries, illnesses, and a system change. But when the HBO cameras close down Saturday night and the 24/7 show airs its final episode on Wednesday at 10pm the Capitals will have finished on a 5-0-1 tear and only two points behind the Penguins for first place in the Eastern Conference. How is that for irony?

This 3-1 victory, in the rain in a city that was apparently overrun with tens of thousands of Caps fans, was as big as they come in the regular season and Washington is now 23-12-5 overall (51 points) while the Penguins, despite all of the hype and accolades, are only 25-12-3 (53 points).

Here is my analysis on the huge win, the Caps 6th straight regular season victory in Pittsburgh:

- Semyon Varlamov was outstanding in net and has now won three games in a row. Varly stopped 32 of 33 shots and as I’ve blogged many times, when healthy he is the Caps #1 goalie. But Michal Neuvirth is a very good goalie too and as I’ve also written numerous times, goaltending is not a problem at all for this club. Varly proved that he could play in the clutch in that 2009 playoff run that ended in a game seven loss to the Pens in round two and tonight he showed how good he is once again. His only issue continues to be durability.

- After the Caps victory over Montreal on Tuesday night, I caught up with Eric Fehr as I left the locker room and he told me he felt as healthy as he’s felt in a long time. Last year when he told me that in early November he went on a goal scoring tear. Tonight he was outstanding and notched two goals playing with Marcus Johansson and Jason Chimera. Could this be a turning point for #16? That line, when put together by Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau, seems to gel because of the speed of #90 and #25, and tonight they were the Capitals best unit.

- I can’t say enough about the Capitals young defensive pair of John Carlson and Karl Alzner. The two played 26:28 and 24:45, respectively, leading the team in time on ice. You think their head coach has confidence in them? As #74 said afterwards on NBC, he and King Karl weren’t happy with allowing Sidney Crosby two points in last Thursday’s shootout loss at the Verizon Center. Tonight the duo shut down the NHL’s leading scorer and #87 didn’t have too many scoring chances unlike Alexander Ovechkin, who had numerous quality attempts and also had a goal wiped out due to what the zebras deemed incidental contact with Marc-Andre Fleury. Washington’s defense was better on day one with both Carlson and Alzner up to start the season and the addition of Scott Hannan gives GM George McPhee and Boudreau the most solid blue line they have had in years.

- Boudreau commented afterwards that he had spoken with McPhee earlier in the day and they decided that the best strategy was to play a simple, grind it out game given the ice conditions. The players got the message and they routinely sent the pucks deep and made the Penguins have to turn their backs to play the biscuit. Clearly it worked with the game’s turning play being Fleury’s misplay of the puck behind the cage that Johansson then centered to Fehr for the eventual game winner. But for those who have watched the Caps lately, a recent similar pattern occurred once Washington took a lead into the third period: they backed off on the aggressive forechecking and set up a neutral zone wall that continues to frustrate the opposition. In fact, the Capitals actually started doing this in the last couple of minutes in period two. The strategy is working, although the Pens came out really strong early in period three. The Caps are still working on implementing this system change, but the early returns are very good and to quote Boudreau, “gives them another tool in the toolbox” to use.

- The Caps scored a power play goal! The Caps scored a power play goal! Mike Knuble’s rebound conversion from the doorstep was exactly what Washington needed when trailing by a goal (Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring for Pittsburgh). On the night the Caps went 1 for 2 with the man advantage while they killed off all four Penguins power plays so special teams made a big difference once again for the Capitals.

- In summary, this was a great win and those that have stood by their Capitals club through the adversity should feel proud of how this Winter Classic sequence has turned out. The Caps are a much better hockey team then they were a month ago. The critics will continue to point to the past playoff failures but if Washington keeps working and builds on the system change and more defensive posture, the organization might finally have a post season reward that will silence the detractors once and for all.

Notes: The faceoff battle was even at 33 all. Nicklas Backstrom was 10-6 to lead Washington…Olie Kolzig commented afterwards that the key for Varly is to keep his groin healthy, which is tougher given the way he plays with the butterfly. Kolzig, to me, was the shining star of the NHL Network coverage over the weekend…Washington has no time to celebrate though as they have a huge tilt with the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday at the Verizon Center. Steve Stamkos and company have been red hot and going back and forth with the Caps for the Southeast Division lead. They also made a big attempt to improve their weak goaltending today by trading for former Islanders net minder Dwayne Roloson.

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.

The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins played what was likely their most intense hockey game of the season so far in an entertaining contest to watch. However, when it was all said and done, the Caps were defeated in the 7th round of the shootout, and lost the game, 3-2, to their archrivals. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist for the visitors but Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was the game’s number one star thwarting 32 of the 34 shots he faced. Mike Green and Mike Knuble tallied for the Capitals, on the power play and shorthanded, respectively. After both Alexander Ovechkin and Kris Letang traded tallies to open the gimmick for their teams, Pascal Dupuis became the next shooter to score in the bottom of the 7th round. Nicklas Backstrom, Alexander Semin, Knuble, Brooks Laich, Mathieu Perreault, and Green all failed to beat #29 before the Pens sent the Caps home slightly disappointed for Christmas. Washington’s record is now 20-12-5, good for 45 points, which puts them in a tie for first place in the Southeast Division with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won their tilt in a shootout against the New York Rangers on Thursday night. The Bolts have two games in hand on the Capitals. The Atlanta Thrashers, who lost to the Boston Bruins this evening, are two points behind both teams.

Let’s get right to the highlights, quotes, and analyis of a game that certainly had a playoff feel to it, as confirmed by Penguins coach Dan Bylsma:

“You talk about the hype and the buildup and the rivalry and the puck drops and it’s exactly what the buildup is.  Sometimes [games like these] are overbuilt but this was a playoff type of game and the building [was] rocking,” said the Pens bench boss on the contest and the atmosphere in the Verizon Center.

- The biggest positive of the night for Washington, in my book, was the play of both Green and his defensive partner Scott Hannan. Those two guys have struggled since Hannan was traded to the Caps from Colorado and the power play marker by #52 broke his own 14 game drought. He logged 34:03 of ice time adding eight hits, five blocked shots, and he also had six shots on net. Green also nearly won the game in OT but Fleury managed to cover the puck with his glove after #52 had deked the net minder to the ice and was about to slide the biscuit by him. Hannan was outstanding in his 27:09 of ice time and the duo finally played like the top pairing that the organization expected from them when they were put together after Jeff Schultz went down with a fractured thumb in the Toronto contest. Perhaps they are finally learning each other’s tendencies or getting comfortable playing as a duo? Whatever it was, those two guys were dynamite against Pittsburgh.

“That was his best game in a long time. He was good defensively and he jumped into the plays and made things happen offensively,” started Boudreau on Green, “We were talking in [the coaches room] and that is why we got him,” finished the Washington bench boss when I asked him about the strong play of Green’s defensive partner.

- In net, Michal Neuvirth (25 saves) made his first ever start against the Penguins and he was fantastic. #30 gave up Crosby’s super tip just 3:21 in to the game and 17 seconds into period three the guys in front of him did a Keystone cops routine by bumping into each other, knocking over the two time Calder Cup Champion net minder and allowing Chris Kunitz to score from the slot. In between the two tallies Neuvy stopped Evgeni Malkin on a penalty shot and thwarted Crosby on a breakaway. The young Czech net minder is 2-1-1 in this current run as the Washington starting goalie.

- The Capitals penalty kill was a major reason why Washington made it to the gimmick. The Caps killed off all five Penguins power plays and they also tied the game up with 5:29 to go on Knuble’s shorthanded marker off of a great feed from Laich. Last season when trailing, an opponents man advantage situation frequently resulted in another opposition tally, however, this season the Capitals are using the PK to stay in games and then use the energy generated from that unit to take back control of the play. The improvement of the shorthanded unit this season is one of the big positives to the first half of the 2010-11 season.

“PK did a great job. To get that goal in the third there on the PK that is huge. The system we played tonight on the PK and what Deano [assistant Coach Dean Evason] drew up for us, we executed it and we got the job done,” said forward Jay Beagle, who logged 10:44 of ice time, including 2:46 when Washington was shorthanded.

- Washington’s power play, however, was another story. While they did finally connect on a two man advantage in period two, they also failed to convert in the opening frame on a 109 second five on three. Overall the Caps were 1 for 6 on the PP and a big problem is the lack of puck movement. Like standing and dribbling gets you nowhere in basketball, the Caps players are holding on to the puck too long instead of moving it quickly and crisply to get the defenders and the goaltender scrambling around. Simply put, despite the fact that the Pens own the best PK percentage in the league (88%), Washington made it easy for their opponents to look good shorthanded on Thursday night. On the last couple of man advantage situations the Caps did do a better job of passing the puck faster and shooting more often, and if they do that, the power play will get hot again.

- The final tallies on power plays in this one was 6 to 5 in favor of the Caps but if you factor in the penalty shot then it is even-steven. The Capitals carried the play for much of the night and should have had a greater advantage in power plays but zebras Kelly Sutherland and Francois St. Laurent saw a completely different game, in some instances, and as is often the case, evened up the calls instead of sticking to officiating the contest correctly.

“We knew they were going to get [power plays]. I think we had one more power play than them which would have been the first time in 16 games that we had more power plays than they did. But we knew there were going to be penalties called against us because we knew there was never going to be that big of a discrepancy when playing them,” said Boudreau on the tendency of NHL referees to focus on the numbers of PP opportunities for each team instead of calling things as they play out.

The coach nailed it and if you ask me, shouldn’t a guy with a last name like St. Laurent be peddling men’s ties instead of badly refereeing hockey games?

- I am not sure what was going on with the playing surface but the ice along the boards adjacent to the Capitals bench seemed to have more bumps and holes in it than New York Avenue. As players attempted to carry the puck out of the zone on that side found out, the routine play was turned into a house of horrors and on several occassions the puck carrier overskated the biscuit. Overall I thought the surface, which I have deemed “Wizards Ice” because it seems that the Caps always play the night following a basketball game, prevented the Caps from some odd man rushes because they had to exit the “bad zone” two of the three periods and in overtime.

- Tom Poti was injured in period one and Boudreau termed him day-to-day. #3 only played 5 shifts (3:34) after hitting his head. As a result of Poti’s early exit the Caps had to play with just five defensemen for the rest of the game, but Karl Alzner said that is a situation that you have to deal with and move on from.

“It makes it a little bit tougher and definitely you run out of energy, especially if you are trying to match any sort of lines there then it gets more difficult. But that is how you have to play. You have to do it sometimes and it’s easier to keep yourself in the game if you are going every other shift but obviously we’d rather finish the game with six [defensemen],” said the 21 year old defenseman on the shortened bench after Poti’s head injury.

- Overall this was another step in the right direction for the Capitals and Boudreau said if they continue to play like they did on Thursday they will win lots of games. I asked Alzner about the mood of the players following the defeat in the skills competition.

“It’s the second best result we could have asked for. We played a pretty good game. It was low scoring, it wasn’t one of those run and gun games so we’re working on that. It’s nice that that is coming through a little bit but we obviously wanted to win and keep Crosby off the scoresheet as much as we could but that’s a tough guy to keep off so we did decent, but we can do better though,” finished #27, the Capitals 2007 1st round draft choice (5th overall).

Notes: Dave Steckel, who leads the NHL in faceoff percentage at 63.6%, was 13-4 on draws but overall Washington lost the battle at the dot, 37-34…Eric Fehr, who received top line minutes in the last period in Boston and in Ottawa on Sunday, started on a line with Ovechkin and Perreault but after one period was yanked off of it. #16 ended up getting only 9:49 of ice time but he did manage to fire four shots on net in that time…the tripping call on Ovechkin was downright awful and again I put the blame on that one on Wizards ice and bad zebras…Hannan went even on the night and was -8 coming into the game against Pittsburgh…Washington is 7-0-2 in its last nine regular season games against Pittsburgh…next up for the Caps, after two days off for the Christmas break, is a game in Carolina at 7pm on Sunday night against the Hurricanes.

There is a reason the Hershey Bears won back to back AHL Calder Cup titles the last two seasons and a national audience on VERSUS on Tuesday night witnessed it first hand as several Chocolatetown graduates played big roles in the Washington Capitals 5-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils at the Verizon Center. Andrew Gordon, who has 16 goals in 26 games for the Bears this year, notched his first ever NHL goal and also had an assist on Jason Chimera’s breakaway marker that made it 3-1. Defenseman John Carlson also scored on a laser and added an assist while goaltender Michal Neuvirth stopped 35 of 36 shots to earn his 14th win of this season. It was the Caps second straight victory following their eight game losing streak and coupled with the St. Louis Blues 4-2 victory over Atlanta, Washington is back in first place in the Southeast Division with 44 points (20-12-4). The Thrashers are a point back with the same number of games played as the Caps while the Tampa Bay Lightning are at 42 points with three games in hand.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis from a game that was close in the first 30 minutes and ended with the Verizon Center chanting “We Want Pittsburgh!”:

- In addition to Gordon, Carlson, and Neuvirth several other Bears from the back to back Calder Cup Championships contributed to the win including defenseman Karl Alzner (+3), Jay Beagle (goal, +1), and Mathieu Perreault (+1). Gordon, Beagle, and Perreault each where involved in a Washington goal simply by going to the net. Gordon’s goal from the doorstep was set up by a super play by Marcus Johansson, Beagle’s tally from just above the crease was the result of a great pass from Dave Steckel, and the smaller Perreault crashed the cage on Martin Broduer (23 saves) allowing Mike Knuble to deflect Tom Poti’s shot by the future Hall of Fame goalie. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau praised the Chocolatetown contingent right out of the gate in his post game presser.

“I thought they all played great, Beagle, Gordo, Carlson, they had lots of energy and they followed direction and they played with passion and enthusiasm. When you do that, usually, no matter what league you’re in you’re going to have success,” said the coach about his players who have simply dominated in the AHL and now are getting a chance to display their merit in “The Show.”

- #30 was super solid in net and he made several quality saves early in the second period when the Devils had their highest points in this tilt. The only shot that beat him was on a Devils power play by Patrick Elias with Dainius Zubrus setting a vicious screen at the top of the crease. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau certainly is feeling confident in Neuvirth right now and you can bet the house he will start against the Penguins on Thursday.

“He was pretty solid. He’s always been a guy that’s gotten stronger as the game goes on and does alot by confidence. The game in Ottawa got him confidence,” said Boudreau on the key to Neuvirth’s recent success.

- The Capitals best d-pair these days continues to be #74 and #27 and they followed up their super game in Ottawa with a tremendous outing on Tuesday. Alzner and Carlson, who were sensational playing together in Hershey, are a perfect pairing that continues to get better. They are positionally sound and the thing they really excel at is getting the puck out of Washington’s zone and in transition with quick and smart passes. Carlson had 23:42 of ice time, including 7:24 on the power play, and despite the fact that the Caps power play stunk in this one (0 for 5), #74 was likely the best player on it because he was shooting the biscuit at the cage instead of trying crazy cross ice seam passes that Alexander Semin kept attempting to execute.

“We’ve been playing good since day one. We’ve been feeling pretty comfortable. We were apart for a while and then got back together a couple of games ago. It’s just a matter of consistency in this game, it seems. Anytime you can play good and contribute, it’s really good,” added #74, who scored the game winning goal for Team USA in the Gold Medal game against Canada in the World Juniors Championships last winter.

- Steckel, who is also a Hershey alum but wasn’t on the two recent Calder Cup winning teams but was on the 2006 AHL Championship club coached by Boudreau, is really playing well lately after a subpar 2009-10. #39 was 7-2 on draws and is now #1 in the NHL in faceoff percentage (63.1%) for those taking at least 20 draws this season. His pass to Beagle for the game winning goal was outstanding and it came after some hard work along the boards and in the corner.

- I would also be remiss if I didn’t praise the play of the rookie, Johansson. #90, who looked healthy and as a result showed off his ultra fast skating tonight, was paired with the speedy Chimera and the grinding Gordon and they were the line of the game for Washington. The young Swede looked like he was shot out of a cannon on the first goal as he flew down the left wing boards and fed an all alone #63 in front for the first tally. Johansson also set up Gordon for a one timer that Brodeur made his best save of the night on in period two when the game was still close. Former Capital Brian Engblom on VERSUS, after the 2nd period, called #90 the best player on the ice for either team, quite a compliment for the 2009 1st round draft choice.

- On the down side, the Capitals power play was simply awful in 8:42 of time, including a lengthy (78 seconds) two man advantage. I put the blame on this on Semin and Mike Green because those guys are not shooting the puck and trying to make too many fancy passes. Boudreau did give Carlson more point time and he moved Alexander Ovechkin down low in an attempt to get him out of his goal scoring slump (2 tallies in the last 18 games).

“Well, we were 0-for-5 on the power play, so it didn’t work very well. But we haven’t had any success with him on the point lately either. I am just trying to move things and change things around. I thought if we got shots at the net and he’s right there, maybe he could get a rebound or something, get an ugly goal that would jump start him. That was the thought process,” said Boudreau, who is attempting to win his 4th straight Southeast Division title as the Caps bench boss in as many seasons.

Notes: Forward Matt Bradley, a major fan favorite, broke his finger and will miss 2-4 weeks (h/t Mike Vogel, aka @VogsCaps)…Eric Fehr, who played four really good periods in a row with Ovechkin and Backstrom on the top line in the two previous games, missed the contest due to a death in the family…the Caps won the face-off battle, 28-26…Washinton’s PK unit was 1 for 4 and it would have been perfect had defenseman Scott Hannan made a simple clearing play instead of waiting for an extra second in the corner. As a result he was stripped from behind of the biscuit and the Caps failed to clear the zone prior to the goal. #23 continues to struggle in his transition from Colorado to Washington…on Wednesday night at 10pm on HBO, Episode 2 of 24/7, which covers the Caps and Penguins as they head into the Winter Classic on January 1st, airs. It should be a much more enjoyable hour of viewing for Caps fans after last week’s tough one in the middle of the eight game losing streak. Not to mention the Penguins lost two straight games last week…Former Capital and VERSUS studio analyst Keith Jones blasted Semin after the game for his effort. Boudreau characterized #28′s performance with the following quote, “Rusty, but he’ll get better though.” Given that Semin was hurt (lower body injury) and just recovered from the flu we’ll give him a pass for his bad game…Thursday night’s Capitals-Penguins tilt at the Verizon Center should be a great one and it will be time for the Capitals star players like Ovechkin (1 assist, +1, 4 hits), Nicklas Backstrom, Green, and Semin to get it going because the Caps will need them to defeat Sidney Crosby and company. Don’t miss it!

Good things usually happen in Chocolatetown and Sunday was no exception. First, the Hershey Bears knocked off the Charlotte Checkers, 6-3, in an early evening tilt and then following the Capitals organization victory at the AHL level, forward Mathieu Perreault, who is up with the Caps on recall from Hershey, tallied twice, including the game winner in period two. Washington would play solid defense the final 30 minutes and get stellar goaltending from Michal Neuvirth (24 saves) en route to a 3-2 win that ended their eight game losing streak, one that seemed to last an eternity. Having attended the game in Hershey and then viewing the Capitals losing streak ending tilt on DVR, tonight’s post will be a two blogs in one holiday special!

Let’s start with the highlights and analysis from a HUGE victory for the Capitals.

- As Drew Forrester of WNST tweeted (@wnst) after the win, December W’s aren’t usually huge, but this one just may have saved Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau’s job. For now, the only one who really knows if that was true or not is General Manager George McPhee. This victory was very significant because the Caps fell into an early hole, something they have been unable to recover from in this losing streak, and they protected a one goal lead over the entire final 30 minutes, a feat they have been accused of being unable to do because of their playing style. In addition, Boudreau made some super coaching decisions in this one. First, he came right back with Neuvirth in net after #30 gave up at least one softy in the loss to Boston on Saturday. Second, he stuck with a new line combination that worked in the third period of the Boston game - the unit of Eric Fehr, Alexander Ovechkin, and Nicklas Backstrom. Finally, he re-inserted center Perreault into the lineup after #85 missed Saturday’s contest with the flu and put him with Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich. That 21-85-22 line was the best one on the ice for the Capitals on Sunday night and it gave Boudreau another unit, along with the top line, to give the Senators fits. Washington has struggled to get two lines creating offensive opportunities lately and the injury to Alexander Semin, who missed his third straight game, wasn’t helping. As a result of these moves and the hard work of the Capitals, who were on the later half of back to back road games in consecutive nights, the long losing streak is history.

- This contest did not start well for Washington but despite being down 2-0 after the first 20 minutes, they were not nearly as bad as they were in period one in Boston on Saturday night. The Caps came out strong on their initial shifts and Fehr had a good early chance but he couldn’t convert. Then Ottawa took over and they tallied when a Neuvirth giveaway behind the cage came after a miscommunication with defensemen John Erskine just 7:21 into the contest. It was a fortunate turn of events for the Sens and they were lucky again on their second marker. Ottawa scored on the ensuing rush after forward Marcus Johansson was tripped with no call in the offensive zone. The fortuitous no call was compounded by both Mike Green and Scott Hannan getting outworked in front of their own net and Chris Kelly had a tap in to make it 2-0 just 14 minutes in. Fehr would then score just a second after the first period horn sounded and at that point, with the way things were continuing to bounce badly for the Caps, it looked like loss number nine for Washington was going to hit the books.

- However, the Perreault, Laich, and Knuble line, which nearly scored two or three times in period one, came out with incredible energy to start the middle frame. Skating out of the Caps zone on their first shift, Knuble raced across the ice to gather in a loose puck. #22 skated down the left wing boards, fed the biscuit to Laich in the slot, where it rolled right to #85 on the doorstep, and he slammed it home just 34 seconds into period two. Only 46 seconds later Backstrom forced Sens d-man Chris Phillips to retreat in his own corner and then Ovechkin jarred the puck free from #4. The Great #8 would quickly feed #16 at the right post and he tapped it home short side. That was two quick goals and suddenly the Washington bench had life it hadn’t seen in nearly two weeks.

- The momentum would continue as Karl Alzner drew a penalty and on that power play Washington nearly scored with Laich just deflecting Ovechkin’s blast wide. The Caps would fail to tally on that man advantage but then John Carlson drew another penalty with a super rush up the ice when Milan Michalek slashed #74. The start of the ensuing power play was a little scary as Laich took a vicious slapper from Green up high. But alls well that ends well and Perreault tallied in front again making it three goals as a result of strong net presence. Tom Poti fired the puck on net and with Hershey recall Andrew Gordon running traffic in front, Ottawa goalie Brian Elliott mistakenly paddled the puck right to Fehr in the slot. #16 backhanded it on net and it rolled to “Johnny on the Spot”  #85 for the tap in at the 6:55 mark. Thus the eventual game winner was on the board before the game was even halfway over.

- The decision to come back with Neuvirth, when most people thought Semyon Varlamov would get the call was an interesting one, but #30 delivered for his head coach. ”Neuvy” did not give up any bad goals although his poor stickhandling led to the first Senators tally and with the Caps up 3-2 in period two his misplay of the puck resulted in another good chance for the Sens. But overall the two time AHL Calder Cup winning goalie made all of the big saves he had to make when the Caps were shorthanded and down the stretch.

- The Caps best defensive pair was once again the Carlson-Alzner duo. It is hard to believe that these two are only 20 and 21 years old, respectively, because they played over 17 minutes together without really giving up more than one or two quality chances. Both were +1 on the night and were excellent at clearing their own zone and getting the puck going the other way.

- Ovechkin only had an assist but he was +1 and did a lot of little things that add up on the ledger to help produce a victory. The Great #8 set up the 2nd Caps tally and he drew two penalties in the third period, including a big one after a strong defensive play with 16.5 seconds to seal the victory.   His passing continues to impress and he fed Matt Bradley in front at the end of one power play but Elliott would deny #10. Ovechkin had only two shots on goal but they both came in the final minutes. He had a semi breakaway around the four minute mark and his other shot on net was on the final power play in the waning seconds. One would have to think that some time soon he will break out of his goal scoring slump because he is still getting some prime chances. This week would be a good time to start.

- I mentioned the sloppy play early on by Washington and one thing the Caps needed to improve on was getting the puck to the player furthest up the ice on the rush so that they could enter the offensive zone with more speed. Too often the puck carrier was not leading the play and the forwards ahead of him were having to stop and wait at the blue line. That gives the defense a huge advantage. This was more noticeable on the power play where the Caps puck carriers should either feed it to the forward in front, who then should get it across the blue line and then give it back to the player coming with speed, or they should simply dump the puck in deep so the other forwards have the speed to beat the defense to it. After the first period Washington did a much better job on this important facet of hockey. As a result they carried the play and rallied for the victory.

Caps Notes: The Capitals outshot Ottawa 34-26 and won the face-off battle, 35-30. Backstrom was a dominating 18-9…the Caps won the special teams battle thwarting all five Senators power plays (including three in the final 20 minutes) while the Washington power play connected once in five tries…the PK unit was bolstered by many defensive zone face-off wins (Dave Steckel and Backstrom) and the outstanding play of Laich down the stretch (made some great plays to break up passes and clear the zone)…Johansson also contributed well in shorthanded situations and he had a strong game despite losing six of eight draws…the Caps are back in first place in the Southeast Division since the Atlanta Thrashers and Tampa Bay Lightning did not play on Sunday night…next up for the Caps are the New Jersey Devils at the Verizon Center on Tuesday night.

************************************

Now here is the recap of the Hershey Bears victory from Senior Manager of Communications, John Walton (also the Bears radio voice), followed by my analysis of the win:

The BEARS head into the holiday break after a 6-3 win over the Charlotte Checkers Sunday at the Giant Center. The win enabled the BEARS to close the game on the idle Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins to 11.

HERSHEY opened the scoring with a pair of first period goals from Brian Willsie and Kyle Greentree, jumping out to a 2-0 lead after one.  Willsie’s goal was a one-timer from the slot for his 12th of the season, which was quickly followed by Greentree’s 11th of the campaign.  Brian Fahey earned assists on both lamp-lighters, and the Chocolate and White led by a pair after 20 minutes.

The BEARS would strike two more times in the second period, with Brian Fahey and Keith Aucoin scoring to give the home team a 4-1 lead after two. Aucoin’s goal, his first since October 31, was the 200th of his AHL career. Fahey scored his third at 8:39, a goal disputed by Charlotte goaltender Justin Pogge.  Pogge was given a game misconduct for abuse of officials, putting backup goaltender Mike Murphy into the game. Aucoin would add his second of the game and seventh of the season at 9:50 of the third period, and Boyd Kane rounded out the scoring with his 10th of the season with just 51 seconds left in regulation. HERSHEY won for the 17th time this season, and moved within three points of the third place Checkers in the East Division standings.  Fahey was named the game’s number one star of the game, scoring a goal and assisting on two others.

- Goalie Dany Sabourin stopped 36 shots, some of which were of the outstanding variety. Early on with no score in the tilt he faced a 2 on 1 break and made a super stop while sliding to his right. If he lets that one in Charlotte may have gained early momentum, something they couldn’t muster until the latter stages of this tilt. Then with the Checkers pressing early in the third period, he robbed captain Bryan Rodney with a sliding left pad save. My only criticism of #35 was on the first Charlotte tally. I thought that he was too tight on the right post and as a result Chris Terry, who skated down on a 3 on 2 rush, was able to beat him far post from a non-prime scoring angle.

- The line of Willsie, Greentree, and Francois Bouchard was dominant, especially early on. Willsie and Greentree each had two points and a quick whistle robbed Greentree of a second goal in the middle frame. Aucoin and Steve Pinizzotto had nice chemistry going as well and #13 helped set up #11′s tally from behind the cage, which he banked in off of Murphy. That goal made it 5-2 and pretty much sealed the deal.

- Fahey earned the number one star and he was the Bears best d-man. It was good to see defenseman Patrick McNeill (2 assists, +1), who recently returned to the lineup after off-season shoulder surgery, have a solid outing as well. Zach Miskovic and Lawrence Nycholat formed a good second d-pair and were both +1. Sean Collins and Patrick Wellar rounded out the defensive lineup and both finished -2.

 - Two other things of notice: Trevor Bruess did a nice job of going to the net and it was his screen on Fahey’s tally that started Pogge’s meltdown that led to his ejection. Dmitri Kurgyshev showed some flashes of outstanding skill but then there were times he was very easily physically taken off of the puck. Simply put, #15 needs to get bigger and stronger.

Bears Notes: Special teams were key for Hershey as they went 2 for 5 on the power play while killing off all six extra man opportunities for Charlotte…the Bears are off until next Sunday when they host the Norfolk Admirals at the Giant Center at 5 pm.

The Washington Capitals came within one of setting a club record for shots on goal in a period (26) on Saturday night in Boston, and still lost. Thanks to a terrible opening first stanza in Beantown, one in which the Bruins scored three goals on 11 shots, a furious Caps rally came up one goal short and the result was Washington’s eighth straight defeat. Patrice Bergeron, Andrew Ference, and Blake Wheeler all tallied for Boston while Matt Bradley and Karl Alzner lit the lamp for DC in a tough 3-2 defeat. The Caps now drop to 18-12-4 and have given up the Southeast Division lead to the Atlanta Thrashers, who thrashed the New Jersey Devils, 7-1, this evening. Atlanta now has 41 points and Washington is one back, but they are also tied with the Tampa Bay Lightning, who also have a game in hand on both teams. So technically, the Caps are in third place in the Southeast Division and reside in 7th place in the Eastern Conference.

Here are the highlights and analysis from another close Capitals loss:

- I don’t know what was said by either the coaches or the players before the Caps came out for period one, but whatever it was it should never be used again. Washington played scared and tight in that opening stanza and just about every Capital was making mistakes, primarily because they were trying too hard and over thinking. Time after time there were one or two Capitals in position to make a play and they couldn’t come up with it. It was simply bad hockey and it cost Washington the game. I will label that opening 20 minutes the “Diamond Period” because to borrow a phrase from Ferris Bueller, the way the Caps played in that frame, had you stuck a lump of coal up the rear of each Capital, by week’s end that is what you’d have from each of them, a diamond! You simply cannot win playing hockey if you are afraid to make mistakes!

- Okay, now that the rant is over, this entire game turned after Michal Neuvirth (18 saves on 21 shots) stopped Tyler Seguin on a breakaway when it was 3-0 early in the second period. If #19 scores it is game over but the Caps went down the other end and it was the line of Dave Steckel, Matt Hendricks, and Bradley that put Washington on the board and back in the game. All three players in the offensive zone did their jobs and #10 found a nice seam in the right wing circle and put one inside the far post by Tim Thomas (39 saves) at 2:18 of period two.

- In the third period the ice was totally tilted with the Capitals rushing the puck into the Bruins zone over and over, but Thomas stood strong. Alzner finally got one by the current front runner for “NHL Comeback Player of the Year” when his blast hit a Boston d-man in front while he was jockeying with Nicklas Backstrom. That tally came with 5:28 remaining and Washington kept pouring it on, but when #30 stopped Alexander Ovechkin on a backhander with 10 seconds left the storybook comeback was thwarted and the losing streak continues on.

- The most baffling thing to me right now is why Ovechkin can’t score a big goal when the Caps need one??!! I thought for sure the Great #8 would tally with the Capitals throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Thomas, but despite seven shots on net and six hits, he could only muster a single assist on Alzner’s goal.

- I think it is no coincidence that since Jeff Schultz fractured his right thumb in the second period of the Maple Leafs game (third loss of this current streak) the play of the team has declined. Mike Green has been paired with just about everyone on the Caps roster and he has struggled (he’s also missed two games with a sprained MCL). #52 was on the ice for all three Bruins tallies, the first while paired with John Erskine and the last two with Scott Hannan, who has been absolutely awful since coming over in the trade for Tomas Fleischmann from Colorado. #23 is now -9 in his eight games with the Caps but to be fair to him, injuries to #55 and some of the others have put him in a difficult role while learning a new system. Green was -2 and misplayed the two on two that resulted in Bergeron’s early goal, but Neuvirth needed to make that save as well. On the third Bruins goal, the two time Norris Trophy finalist was outworked behind the Caps net but had Backstrom stuck with Wheeler in the slot that goal does not happen.

- So on to Ottawa the Caps go on Sunday night for the second half of back to back tilts (faceoff is at 730 pm). The question now is what Capitals team shows up? Is it the one that played the last 40 minutes tonight or is it the one that got bombed in New York last Sunday night? If it is the latter, I would have to think that some changes will be seriously considered, if not made.

Notes: Bradley fought tough guy Adam McQuaid at the 8:17 mark of the opening period, right after Boston had made it 2-0…the Caps were without injured forwards Alexander Semin and Boyd Gordon while Mathieu Perreault was a late scratch due to the flu…Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau juggled his lines in period three and Andrew Gordon saw one shift with Backstrom and Ovechkin before Eric Fehr, who was supposed to be the healthy scratch, was put up there. #16 did a decent job on that unit…the Caps won the faceoff battle, 31-25, with #19 going 14-8 while Marcus Johansson lost six of seven draws.

The Washington Capitals clearly have a motivation and confidence problem right now. Against the Florida Panthers, a team that Washington defeated all six times last season, the Caps came out strong in period one drawing five power plays and fired 18 shots on Cats goalie Tomas Vokoun but they couldn’t get the puck by him. As a result the team got frustrated and started doing too many individual things and when Florida scored with one second left in the second period to snatch a 1-0 lead, the currently mentally fragile Capitals crumbled in the final stanza en route to a 3-0 defeat. The loss drops the Caps to 18-9-3 overall and they still have a  six point lead over both the Tampa Bay Lightning and Atlanta Thrashers in the Southeast Division, but both teams now have two games in hand.

Here is tonight’s recap including quotes and analysis from a tilt that was played in front of the quietest Verizon Center crowd in recent memory:

- The biggest problem on Thursday night was Washington’s power play. For the evening it went 0 for 8, including not converting on two 5 on 3 opportunities, one of which was for 1:53 midway through the first period. Early on the Caps were trying to swing the puck down low in an attempt to beat Vokoun in close. Eric Fehr, who had 6 shots on goal in 11:43 of ice time, had numerous chances to get one by #29 but couldn’t convert. After the first few power plays the Caps then started getting too cute and pass happy instead of firing the puck from the top of the slot with traffic in front. By the 7th and 8th iterations the man advantage units had totally deteriorated into an individual event where one Capital after another tried to skate through the Panthers defense on his own, without any success. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau discussed the problems on the power play after the game.

“The intentions were good at the beginning, then when you don’t score on the power play when you have the opportunity, you could see at the end of the first period that we started to do things as individuals instead of collectively.  When that happens, it’s tough, it’s no excuse,” started Boudreau on his usually potent power play crew, “Just stand in front of the net and shoot the puck was the message and then we still get too cute. There were so many times we had good opportunities to shoot with guys in front of the net and we are trying to make the play and the play’s not there,” finished the 2007-08 Jack Adams trophy winning coach on why things went bad with the manpower advantage.

- As bad as Washington’s power play was, their penalty killing was super in period two when the Caps had to kill off three infractions, including a 1:18 five on three against. Brooks Laich, Boyd Gordon, and Tom Poti did outstanding work and it appeared that the effort on the PK might spur the team to the first goal. However, with one second left in period two the Cats scored after Karl Alzner and Nicklas Backstrom were beaten badly down low on the right wing boards. A wild goal mouth scramble ensued and Steve Reinprecht buried one from the slot with four Caps around him. That type of goal just can’t happen. First #27 and #19 need to be smarter that late in the period and not over commit going for the steal. At that point in time, they should have been focusing on keeping the Panthers on the perimeter, because a takeaway wouldn’t have given them any time to go the other way to score. This was simply a case of two young players not paying attention to the game situation and then a collective lack of effort in front of Semyon Varlamov (29 saves) on the rebounds.

“It was obviously a huge goal because it gave them light. After the first period we were talking about how often a team outshoots one 18-6 and it is five power plays to none, the other team comes out and they are going to get power plays in the second period and it usually turns. I thought we did a really good job of holding them off on the 5 on 3 and the penalty, but you’ve got four guys down there and nobody touching anybody, they are going to score. Once they believe that, at the start of the third period, they dug in their heels pretty good and they hadn’t beaten us in awhile and they were a determined group. We were looking like we were feeling sorry for ourselves,” added Boudreau on the Caps solid penalty killing and then how the late second period tally impacted his team’s mindset.

- Washington, after blowing a three goal third period lead in their shootout loss to Toronto on Monday, came out strong in period one but as the game wore on they seemed to lack interest and lose confidence. For those of you who follow my blogs or my tweets on Twitter (@Emfrank123), you are aware that in the notes section of the Leafs summary blog I wrote that this team needed a challenge game against the Pittsburgh Penguins to get themselves dialed in for 60 minutes. Then on Thursday morning I predicted that the Caps would not be 100% focused against Florida. The result of this tilt furthers my case, but what is now happening is that the loss of confidence is causing the players to mope and feel sorry for themselves instead of getting them to fight back strong.

“We could call it snake bitten, we could call it you’re facing adversity and not being able to handle the adversity, not fighting through it. Feeling sorry for yourself. I came in between periods, 2nd and 3rd, everybody was hanging their head and we were down 1-0. My job at that time was not to give them crap but to let them know they’re good and don’t feel sorry for yourself. Dig your heels in and come back and it’s one shot…once it was 2-0 you could see the shoulders sagging on the bench and they just didn’t believe they were going to come back tonight,” said Boudreau on his team’s frail mental state during this recent four game slide.

“I liked the beginning of the game, I liked our energy, the way we played. We were going to the net hard, we were working hard. You don’t get that many power plays without working and effort but the puck is not going in the net right now and we’re gripping the sticks tight. We are getting down on ourselves. It is just part of the game. It is almost like a slump in some sort of way, not scoring on the opportunities we are getting,” said forward Matt Hendricks on what transpired on Thursday night and why the team is not converting.

- Backstrom, Alexander Semin, and Mike Green all had one of their worst games of the season on Thursday and the Caps simply can’t win when those guys aren’t going. Boudreau tried moving Alexander Ovechkin around and he switched up his lines in the third period to try and jump start the offense, to no avail.

“Our top six forwards weren’t very good. But our bottom six forwards were working their hardest and getting opportunities so I wanted to get at least one of those guys on with the other guys and maybe it would rub off and the energy would rub off. But quite frankly if your best players aren’t your best players, we’ve been shut out three times in the last 11 games, which has never happened, you are not going to have success. We have one goal or less in five of the last 11 games. You have to get production out of your best players and it is not happening right now,” stated Boudreau on the reason for lack of offensive production.

- As I alluded to above, I think a big part of the problem is a motivational one that is out of Boudreau’s control. All season long the Caps players have been hearing that it doesn’t matter what they do in the regular season, because they will only be judged by their success, or lack of it, in the post season. As a result, I believe that the Capitals are not focused, except when they feel challenged. Some of their best games this season were the two battles with the Flyers and the 6-0 white washing of Tampa when the Bolts came in on fire with a five game winning streak. Honestly, tilts against the Thrashers, Leafs, and Panthers aren’t going to get the blood of the Capitals players boiling. However, with each lackadaisical effort, the opportunity for a Lightning or Atlanta squad to hang around in the division race becomes greater, something the Caps bench boss is keenly aware of.

“We are in a dogfight in the conference and the division. It is not going to be a cakewalk and every team that plays us in the division is ready for us. Every team knows that they’ve got to check this guy and check that guy and we have to as individuals change a little bit of the way we play. That is why I was putting Alex from left wing to right wing because they had [Mike] Weaver out there every time against him. We have to find a way to get around that,” commented on Boudreau on what his club needs to do to defend their Southeast title for the fourth straight season.

- Going forward I am not sure a tilt against the Avalanche on Saturday will be the silver bullet this club needs and the Penguins aren’t on the slate until December 23rd. However the Caps are reminded of that by the fact that HBO cameras are currently following them everywhere, so next week’s first episode of 24/7 ought to be akin to a Washington funeral the way Boudreau’s squad is playing. But the former Slap Shot extra has a plan to try and turns things around and it starts with Friday’s practice.

“I gave them crap after the Leafs game. So you can’t just keep going and beating a dead horse. Tomorrow, I think obvioulsy we’ll practice the power play and penalty killing. Other than that we’ll have our individual meetings, maybe there is something there that I am missing right now and we’ll get to the bottom of it and we’ll get out of it. When we get out of it hopefully we’ll have learned by it,” finished Boudreau on his plan going forward for the Capitals.

Notes: Washington won the faceoff battle, 34-27, on Thursday night…Matt Bradley and DJ King were the forward scratches while Jeff Schultz and Tyler Sloan are on injured reserve…John Erskine and Fehr were my choices for top Caps of the evening as both worked extremely hard despite the loss…Washington outshot Florida 36-32 but the Panthers had a 26-18 advantage after the opening frame.

-

After his team was blanked 5-0 in its last two road games, Alexander Ovechkin came out with a vengeance on Wednesday night in Carolina skating hard, hitting Canes, and firing the biscuit on net often. The result was a three assist night in a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes in Raleigh on Thanksgiving Eve. Nicklas Backstrom tallied on Ovie’s first two assists and Brooks Laich tapped home the game winner on the power play with 7:53 remaining. Semyon Varlamov, who was playing his first game since early October at the NHL level due a bad groin, was outstanding in goal stopping 30 of 32 shots. The victory halts an overall three game slide and improves the Capitals record to 15-6-2. The win keeps them four points ahead of the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the New York Rangers on Wednesday, 5-3. The Bolts will now come in to the Verizon Center on Friday for a 5pm tilt. That game should be a great one.

Here are the highlights and analysis from a huge Caps win in Raleigh:

- Ovechkin (3 assists, 10 shots on goal, 5 hits) was clearly the main story on Wednesday night. The Great #8, who is the team captain and leader of this Washington squad, had been struggling of late, especially on the road. However, from the very first shift it was clear that he was ready to go and a tactical switch by Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau seemed to help jump start the two time Hart Trophy winner. Boudreau, in an attempt to get Ovechkin more space and get him to churn his powerful legs, inserted him on the right wing of Backstrom and it yielded big dividends. The Swedish superstar center, who turned 23 on Tuesday, scored the first two goals of the game on Ovie set ups from the right wing boards. The first was an Ovechkin blast from the top of the right wing circle and when Justin Peters (35 saves) couldn’t handle the rebound, Nicky beat Joe Corvo to the biscuit and slapped it home. Then, in a 4 on 4 situation early in the second period, Alexander the Great outworked the Canes in the right wing corner and fed Backstrom with a nice pass. #19 had all kinds of room coming off of the wall and he lasered it by Peters for a 2-0 lead. The hard work by those two, with Laich on the left wing, would continue all night and they could have had five points each if not for some great goaltending by Peters. But Peters made a big mistake in the 3rd period trying to play the puck while shorthanded and when he cleared it right to the Great #8 at the point, Alex fired it on the cage and Laich tapped it home to break a two all tie and give the Caps the victory.

- Varlamov, who made three appearances in Hershey over the last 10 days in an attempt to rehab his injury, was outstanding. His positioning was great and he had numerous big saves, especially early on when Carolina had the Caps on their heels a bit in the first five minutes. #1 held his ground well on several occassions on goal mouth scrambles and he fought through some screens to thwart other opportunities for the Canes from the point. The only two tallies he allowed were a Sergei Samsonov deflection from the top of the crease on a Joni Pitkanen blast and an Eric Staal power play marker from in tight after the referees missed a clear hook on the Caps John Carlson. Both of those came in the first 10 minutes of the third period when Carolina was storming the castle. Now the key for Varly is to stay healthy, because as good as Michal Neuvirth is playing, Varlamov is the best goalie in the organization.

- It was clear that Boudreau’s “Send a Message”  practice/skate on Tuesday resonated with his troops as Washington did not float through this contest like they did in Atlanta and New Jersey. The team skated hard and did a super job of puck support. When one player lost the puck it seemed like there was always a Capital close by to cover for the turnover. I also don’t remember too many odd man rushes for the Canes, something Washington needed to cut down on.

- I spoke about the stars contribution to this victory but two other Capitals deserve a lot of credit in the win: Matt Bradley and Matt Hendricks. Bradley took on Troy Bodie at the 8:16 mark and was cut in a losing bout. But there is something about #10 bleeding that brings out the best in his teammates and after that they seemed to really kick things into gear, culminated by Backstrom’s opening tally five minutes later. In addition, Hendricks, who fought on Monday only to see his club not respond to it, did a lot of little things including drawing a tripping penalty and jumping into any scrums to stand up for his mates, most notably was confronting Erik Cole after he bumped Varly and then tried to get at Tom Poti. Role players like #10 and #26 are what win regular season games and make a difference in the post season.

-  Poti made his return to the lineup after missing 14 of the last 15 games due to a groin injury and he was sturdy in 24:30 of ice time. #3 was +1 and played the second most on defense to ice time leader, Carlson, who logged 26:39 because Mike Green was out of action due to an injury. The top 4 blue liners, Carlson, Poti, Jeff Schultz, and Karl Alzner were fairly solid, while Hershey recall Brian Fahey struggled a bit and that impacted his partner John Erskine, who only played 10:47. It was Erskine’s penalty that led to the game tying goal after he and #44 were running around in their own zone. Fahey and Erskine did not see the ice in the last 5:59 of this tilt.

Notes: Michal Neuvirth dressed as the back up goalie, meaning his lower body injury that occurred in the morning skate on Monday was not serious…both teams went 1 for 4 on the power play…Tampa has won five games in a row for their first winning streak of 5 or more in three seasons, so Friday’s Caps-Bolts tilt will be “Can’t Miss” hockey…Oveckhin only had 3 shots blocked tonight to go with the 10 he had on net, clearly the move to RW helped him big time - great coaching by Boudreau…the Caps won the face-off battle 37-29 with Boyd Gordon going 13-4 and Dave Steckel winning 11 of 15 draws. Backstrom was 5-13…Tyler Sloan was also out due to an injury…the Hershey Bears lost 3-2 to the Worcester Sharks at the Giant Center. Mathieu Perreault and Jay Beagle tallied in the losing effort for the boys from Chocolatetown.