The Caps were given Monday off after playing three games in four nights (and four in six as well) and have moved Tuesday’s practice at Kettler Ice Plex forward to 9 am in an attempt to beat another snowstorm that is headed into this region on Tuesday afternoon. Washington plays in Montreal on Wednesday, Ottawa on Thursday, and finally St. Louis on Saturday before stopping for the Olympic break. Five Capitals will take part in the Olympics (Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Semyon Varlamov with Russia; Nicklas Backstrom with Sweden; and Tomas Fleischmann with the Czech Republic).

The Caps have won 14 straight and can tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for 17 victories in a row if they defeat all three opponents this week but with each contest on the road it will be a tough order, especially the back to back tilts in Quebec.

Effective this Friday, February 12th, the NHL will not allow any trades again until March 1, which is after the Olympic break concludes. The actual trade deadline is Wednesday, March 3rd so there are exactly 7 days left before no more deals can be made. There has been much talk of the Capitals needing to add a goalie or a defenseman from fans and media locally as well as around the league. Personally, with Jose Theodore, Semyon Varlamov, and Michal Neuvirth in net I see no need for GM George McPhee to go out and acquire a veteran goalie, such as someone like Marty Turco. On defense, Washington has nine players that are NHL calibre defensemen to include Mike Green, Tom Poti, Jeff Schultz, Brian Pothier, Shaone Morrisonn, John Erskine, Karl Alzner, Tyler Sloan, and John Carlson. Therefore, unless McPhee is presented with a great offer I can’t see him making a move on the blue line.

What I do see a need for, however, is another center because after Backstrom on the top line, Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau has been going with Tomas Fleischmann on the 2nd unit and Brendan Morrisonn on the third. Both guys have played well this season but have slowed their scoring pace recently. It should be noted that #14 and #9 are not big, physical centers and do have some recent injury history. Therefore, I believe McPhee needs to acquire another pivot for depth as well as in anticipation of a potential matchup with the Pittsburgh Penguins, who go Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Jordan Staal, 1-2-3, respectively, at center. The NHL Playoffs are a two month ordeal for those that reach the Stanley Cup Finals and with the level of intensity the post season brings, injuries are bound to happen so a team must have solid depth to win the Cup.

The good news is McPhee has lots of salary cap space to work with and he can take on a rental or a two. The bad news is the crop of potential centers seems pretty thin because good ones are hard to find and teams typically hang on to them once they get them. I have gone over the NHL center list several times and just don’t see many available fits for Washington. Three weeks back I mentioned a guy like Shawn Horcoff, who can skate and is big, would be a nice fit but immediately dismissed it due to his contract and price. The Michigan State alum is locked up long term and making too much money to go after (signed through 2014-15 at $5.5M per season). I did see two names on the list of players who are unrestricted free agents that might be good stretch drive and playoff rentals but they are admittedly past their prime. Mike Modano (39) of Dallas and Doug Weight (38) of the Islanders have extensive playoff and international experience and are still good pivot men. The question is would they be available (Weight likely will be while Modano is a question mark) and would they fit in a locker room that has extremely good chemistry right now?  Mike Comrie (28) of Edmonton is another possible option but he isn’t exactly a big center (only 5 foot 10). Comrie, who has already played for 5 NHL teams (Edmonton, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Ottawa, and the Islanders), just recently returned to the line-up after he missed numerous games due to a bout with mono. For the record, I have no inside information that the Caps are even interested in any of these players, this is merely my look at a position that appears to be one of need for Washington.

Roster decisions at this time are tough ones and that is why McPhee gets paid the big bucks, to figure out the right moves (or correct non-moves) necessary to bring a very talented Capitals team their first Stanley Cup.

NHL News

Bob Gainey resigned as GM of the Montreal Canadiens today and will be replaced, apparently long term based on what he told Jeff Marek on Hockey Night in Canada Radio today, by Pierre Gauthier. Gainey was in the last year of his contract and I had heard rumblings of him stepping down from a source close to him as far back as December 2008 so I was not surprised at the news. Gainey will remain on as an advisor for the Habs and he has to be happy that they went with his replacement choice in Gauthier. Gauthier was GM of the Ottawa Senators from 1995-1998 and GM of the Anaheim Ducks from 1998-2002. In the summer of 2003, Gauthier joined Montreal as Director of Professional Scouting and then in the summer of 2006, he was named Assistant General Manager while keeping the responsibilities attached to professional scouting.

It has been mentioned for weeks on hockey radio shows and web sites that the Penguins are looking for some wingers to go with their talented centers and today speedy left wing Ethan Moreau (34) of Edmonton is rumored to be possibly heading to Pittsburgh in a deal. However, that same source (@NHLSourcesSay on Twitter) said the deal may be held up by the Pens additional interest in Leafs left wing Alexei Ponikarovsky (29). Rumors are just that, so you need to take them for what they are worth (sometimes not much), but I will be surprised if the Penguins don’t add a forward or two to help their struggling power play since they could use some players who go to the net.

It has been a week since the Calgary Flames completed two huge trades sending Dion Phaneuf, Fredrik Sjostrom, and prospect Keith Aulie to the Maple Leafs for Ian White, Jamal Mayers, Matt Stajan, and Nik Hagman in one deal and then Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to the Rangers for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik in the other, and the moves still don’t make alot of sense to me from a Flames standpoint. I know things weren’t working for GM Darryl Sutter’s team but outside of gaining about $4M in salary cap space next season I don’t see how he improved his hockey club? Phaneuf, who has had a couple of rough years, is still a phenomenal talent. Prust is a tough guy who everyone on the team seemed to really like and he brought energy and effort game in and game out. None of the guys Sutter received in return are what I would call positive “difference makers.” I consider Kotalik as one of the worst players in the league when you factor in his current contract (signed through 2011/12 at $3M per season). The guy can’t skate at all and is too streaky. One would have to think Sutter’s job could be in jeopardy if these moves, which smell of panic, don’t work out.

Ovechkin, Backstrom NHL Stars of Week

Fresh off yesterday’s Super Bowl Sunday hat trick performance that propelled the Washington Capitals to a thrilling 5-4 come from behind victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on NBC, Alexander Ovechkin has been named the NHL 1st star of the week. This is the second time in four weeks and the third time this season that the Great #8 has won the 1st star. It’s the 13th time in his career that he has been named either one of the Three Stars of the Week or NHL Player of the Week. Teammate Nicklas Backstrom has been named the NHL’s Third Star of the Week for the second week in a row; it’s the third time this season and the fourth time in his career that he has been one of the three stars of the week. Toronto Maple Leafs goalie, Jean-Sebastian Giguere, was the second star of the week. Below is the press release from the NHL:

Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom have been named the NHL ‘Three Stars’ for the week ending Feb. 7.

FIRST STAR – ALEX OVECHKIN, LW, WASHINGTON CAPITALS

        Ovechkin led all NHL scorers last week with 10 points (seven goals, three assists) as the Capitals went 4-0-0, extending their franchise-record win streak to 14. Ovechkin notched one goal in a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins Feb. 2, recorded two goals and one assist in a 6-5 win over the New York Rangers Feb. 4 and tallied one goal and one assist in a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers Feb. 5. He finished the week by recording three goals and one assist in a 5-4 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Feb. 7. Ovechkin, who has tallied goals in each of his past five games, leads the NHL in goals (42), points (86) and plus-minus (+41). The Capitals 14-game winning streak is a franchise record and matches the third-longest winning streak in NHL history. The last streak longer than 14 games was the Pittsburgh Penguins’ NHL-record 17-game winning streak in 1992-93.

SECOND STAR – JEAN-SEBASTIEN GIGUERE, G, TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

        Acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in a trade Jan. 31, Giguere became the first goaltender in Maple Leafs history to record shutouts in his first two games with the club. He recorded 30 saves as the Maple Leafs defeated the New Jersey Devils 3-0 on Feb. 1 and again stopped 30 shots for his third shutout of the season and 34th of his career in a 5-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators Feb. 5, snapping the Senators’ franchise-record 11-game winning streak. Giguere has posted a 6-8-5 record with a 2.83 goals-against average and .909 save percentage in 22 appearances with Anaheim and Toronto this season.

THIRD STAR – NICKLAS BACKSTROM, C, WASHINGTON CAPITALS

        Backstrom matched Ovechkin with 10 points last week (two goals, eight assists), climbing to fourth place in the NHL scoring race (25-48–73 in 59 games) and extending his point streak to eight games (4-13–17). Backstrom began the week by notching one assist in a 4-1 victory over the Boston Bruins Feb. 2. He tied a career high with five points (one goal, four assists) in a 6-5 win over the New York Rangers Feb. 4, tallied one goal and one assist in a 5-2 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers Feb. 5 and collected two assists in a 5-4 overtime win over the Pittsburgh Penguins Feb. 7.

Here are the highlights, quotes, analysis, and more statistics on a streak that is now tied for the 3rd longest in NHL history:

Well we have to start with the Great #8. What a performance today?! Memo to the Penguins: Cheap shotting (see Craig Adams hit from behind in the 1st period that went unpenalized) or trying rough up Ovechkin (see Brooks Orpik all game long) is only going to make him madder and cause you to pay more. Perhaps you should call the Montreal Canadiens about a certain game on January 31, 2008 to find out why you should leave Ovie alone? 

Alexander the Great’s rival, Sidney Crosby, came out hot in this one scoring the game’s first two goals prompting NBC’s Mike Milbury to joke after the first period about Crosby still being Ovie’s daddy. By the end of the Ovechkin dominated 3rd and overtime periods, I still did not hear Mike crack any jokes back at Sid. Perhaps he will say something on HNIC Radio this week when he is on with super host Jeff Marek to save face? I doubt that though, because Milbury is buddies with Don Cherry, who has been overly critical of Ovechkin, so we likely won’t be getting a Crosby joke or a mistake admission by Milbury. The former Islander GM, who made some brutal trades as GM (see Roberto Luongo),  just looks foolish and more biased every time he keeps taking shots at the two-time defending MVP.

The Great #8 credited the crowd for the third period comeback but after Eric Fehr made a superb individual play to make it 4-2 late in the second stanza, Ovechkin took this game over and showed everyone who really is Big Daddy. Alex, with his four point day, has 42 goals and 44 assists this season to lead Henrik Sedin of Vancouver in the scoring race by eight points despite missing eight contests. Crosby is third with 74 points. In the plus/minus category, the Great #8 sits at a league leading +41 while Crosby dropped to +7. The argument to all of this from Crosby and non-Ovechkin fans is that Sid leads in Stanley Cups (1-0) but something tells me the Caps day is coming. By the way, you might as well award Ovechkin with his third straight MVP trophy because the club is 17-1 since he became team captain. Afterwards, the Great #8 was his typical honest and classy self:

“It’s always nice to win, especially when you are a little bit frustrated in the first [period]. Game [didn’t] go well for us right away. It’s nice to come back and win in OT especially. It’s always nice to score goals, especially in this type of big game. They are going to play hard against us. They played great. We made a couple of mistakes and they have very good skill out there.  So we just come here and know that we still have lots of time to come back and score lots of goals. We just go out there and play. [Due to the weather] The crowd wasn’t getting in during the first period. You can see the crowd pushing us in the third period and we just keep going, keep going and it’s pretty sick,” said Ovechkin on the victory, his scoring, the Pens play, and the help his squad received from the fans who fought through the snow for the opportunity to ”Rock the Red.”

As for the NBC broadcast, they clearly love the Penguins but hey, so does the NHL because Crosby is Canada’s golden boy. But Ovechkin has numerous fans in the Great White North despite what you might believe based on some select TSN and CBC announcers. NBC pretty much talked the whole time about 87 or 8 and I thought over-discussed the bad travel night the Penguins had getting to DC. Pittsburgh played in Montreal on Saturday afternoon, flew to Newark, New Jersey and landed around 9pm, then endured a nearly five hour bus ride to DC before arriving at 2am Sunday morning. That stunk for them but you couldn’t tell they got little sleep by their fast start. In the 3rd period, however, the Caps took over and some of that could have been Pens travel fatigue. Both Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma and Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau addressed the issues with the weather and travel and its impact on arguably the most exciting NHL game this season.

“I don’t think [the travel] had anything to do with it. I thought our team had plenty of jump. Our guys felt good. I don’t think it was a factor at all … We had a travel day. Most of these guys have done that quite a bit in their career in the American [Hockey] League or growing up. I don’t think it was at all out of the ordinary for any of these guys. It wasn’t what we expected when they put the schedule together, but it happened and it wasn’t out of the ordinary,” said an admirable Bylsma, who seems to have the perfect demeanor to coach the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

“[The snow] hurt us worse, we are out shoveling all day, worrying about who is going to be coming to the game and your focus is not on the game. They skated yesterday and we didn’t have practice so that is why we struggled early,” added Boudreau.

Throughout this season, and especially during this history making winning streak, the Caps have dominated third periods outscoring opponents by an incredible 30-6! The question on the Caps, primarily because of the perception that Washington is weak defensively, has been “Can they play the 2-1 game come playoff time?” I think last year’s game seven win over the Rangers proved they can prevail in that type of contest but some will still argue against me. However, I pose this question, what team is best suited to come back from a two or three goal deficit? I say the Caps as they proved in their come from behind win over New York on Thurday and today’s rally against Pittsburgh. To come back you need offense, but you also have to be able to play defense and have good goaltending. The Caps were shoddy, at best, on defense at the beginning of this one but their goalie, Jose Theodore, continues to play his best hockey in a Washington uniform and he kept the team in it until Ovechkin and company could take over.

“We were playing pretty bad, the first 10 mintues was the worst our defense has played in so long. But I thought the last half of the game we were really good,” started Boudreau, “Theodore played great. Couldn’t do anything on the first two [goals] I didn’t think, you know [Sidney] Crosby’s goals, and then there were bang-bang goals in front of the net. A sign of a good goaltender to me is when it’s tied at the end or you’re up by a goal and somebody can preserve that one goal lead or preserve it so it gives you an opportunity to win it. And he did. He made some great saves at the end and even when it was 2-0 and 5-on-3 he made that great save and didn’t allow Crosby to make it 3-0. I thought that was very important,” finished the 2007-08 Jack Adams Trophy winner on his goalie, who won his 10th straight contest making 31 saves.

Pittsburgh, despite blowing a three goal lead, still received a point so the day was not a total loss for Bylsma’s squad. In fact, despite some of my complaints with the NBC broadcast, the crew that had the worst day was definitely the referees. Tim Peel and Frederick L’Ecuyer should not be allowed to officiate any playoff games after this one. They had very little pulse on the game and by not acting on some dirty hits allowed parts of this contest to turn into a chippy affair. They made some correct calls but they also missed several things and made some bad ones such as:

• The Adams hit on Ovechkin in the first period that should have been a five minute major for checking from behind. Can you imagine the uproar if Ovechkin had done this? What made it worse was the zebras gave Knuble an instigator penalty, which carried a 10 minute misconduct with it, for going after Adams when a roughing call was more appropriate.
• Right before Alexander Semin, who did not have one of his better games, was called for a high stick on Sergei Gonchar, a Penguin put a wrestling hold on Brooks Laich without being whistled
• How do you call 10 minute misconduct penalties on both Nicklas Backstrom (1st liner, +2, two assists) and Tyler Kennedy (3rd liner, at best)? Each should have received no more than two minute minors. Sending them both off for 10 minutes gave a huge advantage to Pittsburgh. These officials clearly were not cognizant of what they were calling and the impact those penalties could have on the game.
• Semin also took a vicious cross check to his jaw from Evgeni Malkin in the third period that went unpenalized.
• Jeff Schultz (+3 and a sweet assist to set up an Ovechkin breakaway goal) was whistled by the back referee at center ice for slashing Matt Cooke when #24’s stick clearly broke on its own. What made this call worse, besides the wrong referee signaling the infraction when out of position for the call, was that it gave Pittsburgh a power play in a tie hockey game with just over four minutes remaining. That is bush league officiating there.

More Thoughts & Notes: The Caps, after smoking the Pens in Pittsburgh on January 21 on face-offs, lost the battle at the dot 39-34 on Sunday… Despite Crosby’s two goals, the Penguins top player today was Jordan Staal (two goals, +2, in just under 20 minutes of ice time)… Michael Rupp, who was acquired by Pittsburgh as a free agent from the Devils in the off-season, looked pretty good yet only played a surprising 6:28..Tom Poti and Semin were having poor games, for them, until the 3rd period and OT. Poti assisted on the second Ovechkin goal (what hands by the Great #8 there!) that made it 4-3 and #28 drew the high stick on Orpik that put Washington on the game winning power play (Orpik, according to Corey Masisak, called Semin ”a baby” after the game and said “he has no respect for him”)..Eight times in their 14-game winning streak the Capitals have won despite allowing the first goal, improving to 15-6-2 when their opponent scores first (.652). No other team has won more than half its games in that scenario..when Crosby made it 2-0 in the first period, how many Caps fans flashed back to game 7 of last year’s Eastern Conference semi-finals, a contest that Pittsburgh would rout Washington in, 6-2, to advance to the Stanley Cup semi-finals?..Down on the farm in the AHL, the Hershey Bears rallied from a 3-0 hole thanks to a Mathieu Perrault hat trick and an assist en route to a 5-4 victory over the Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. D-man Bryan Helmer had the game winner and Semyon Varlamov stopped 26 of 30 shots in a re-hab assigment. The Bears have now won 17 straight home games and 10 in a row overall (22 of last 23 as well). Yes, that is 24 straight combined for the Caps organization at the NHL and AHL levels, WOW!

At the end of the day though, this one was about a rivalry that continues to intensify, was magnified in front of a national television audience, and likely stole some thunder from Sunday night’s Super Bowl, which is big for the NHL.

“I am pretty excited and I am really excited for hockey that that game was put on TV today. That’s what people pay to see; when superstars shine and there’s tension and excitement and there’s physical play, you can see the passion on both sides. That’s what hockey’s all about,” finished Boudreau.

The Caps go for 15 straight on Wednesday night in Montreal.

Washington is now 40-12-6 overall and have a three point lead for the President’s Trophy over the San Jose Sharks, who have a game in hand. With New Jersey’s come from behind victory in Toronto on Friday, the Caps still lead the Eastern Conference by 12 points.

Here are the highlights, quotes, some neat statistics courtesy of the Caps outstanding Media Relations Department, and analysis of another Caps victory:

Goaltending: GM George McPhee and Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau continue to get top notch net minding, for the most part this season. Whether it has been Semyon Varlamov, Theodore, or Neuvirth, major credit has to go to Boudreau for picking the correct one to play each night and also to first year Caps goalie coach Arturs Irbe. Irbe has done whatever has been needed to get the “next goalie up” ready to go when the current hot one either gets injured (which has been the primary case) or has an off night, or needs a rest.

“I have never seen a team without great goaltending. If you don’t have good goaltending streaks don’t happen,” confirmed Boudreau when the topic of his super goaltending was brought up and its impact on the team.

Neuvirth (43 saves) was outstanding tonight, and as he said after the game, he got better and better as the contest went on. The only other goal he gave up was fluky as he actually stopped a shorthanded breakaway by Rich Peverly with just under seven minutes remaining, but Alexander Semin, who had the giveaway that led to the scoring chance, crashed into his own keeper and kicked the puck into the goal.

“Neuvirth played fabulous. [In the 2nd period] They got their legs and we couldn’t meet their push and that is when we needed the goalie to be really good and he was really good,” added Boudreau on #30, who has stopped 110 of 114 shots in his last three games, including 22 alone in period two on Friday.

“For the most part we did a good job of boxing guys out, let him see the puck on the power plays. We didn’t have too many guys in front of the net. I don’t think screens weren’t too much of a problem for him. That was a big key. He made some huge saves for us in there and that’s what it takes. The depth of the team starts from the goalie out and it’s been working good lately, so hopefully it keeps going,” said forward Jason Chimera, who was injured on a Todd White hit in the second period but returned late in the middle frame and then went on to have a monster third period, including notching the 4th goal on a pretty top shelf shot.

“I thought we played pretty good considering we took four or five penalties with a five-on-three.  I thought we outplayed them in the second [period], they just had the key goal to make it 2-1.  You give these guys an inch, they’ll take a mile with how skilled they are.  They scored on their two-on-one, they took advantage of their chances.  We had a ton of shots, their goalie played really well and seemed to handle everything,” said the Thrashers Peverley on Neuvirth and the Caps.

Sloppy Caps Play: Boudreau wasn’t totally happy after this one because his team, for the third straight game, gave up too many shots (45) and endured stretches where they were dominated, but luckily bailed out by their goalies. Washington is taking too many penalties in spurts and they took two in the second half of a period two that was all Atlanta. The Caps relied on the hot goaltending early on and then turned up the heat in the final stanza in a formula that has been followed pretty much all week. The coach cited lack of practice time as a reason for getting away from their system but he also pointed out the other teams are highly motivated to knock off the Caps and end their winning streak.

“That’s the trend, but there’s also the trend that we are giving up a lot of shots lately.  I mean we gave 40 shots up. It’s going to be tough to continue doing this at this rate. We need to get back out of our sloppiness, because I thought we were pretty sloppy again. It’s systems and groove.  The effort is there, the guys want to win more than anything, that’s why they come out in the third period and they’re pretty well in control so far in the third period. You don’t realize how hard it is to win, it’s difficult to stay at a pace when every team you’re playing, is coming at you in waves because they’re the ones that want to end it. The reason winning streaks are tough is because you have to be at the top of your game all the time and when you go back-to-back games it’s tough.  It’s not an excuse, it’s a fact.” finished the 2007-08 Jack Adams Trophy winner, pointing out that Washington played on Thursday while Atlanta waited for the Caps to return from New York.

Bruce is right, the team has developed some bad habits but with the compressed schedule it is tough to find time to work on things. Effort is not the problem and because of Washington’s great skill plus the super goaltending, they have been able to overcome their mistakes and keep the streak going. 

“Quite honestly, I don’t want to sound like I’ve been around the block a lot, but [the streak] doesn’t mean that much to me. Maybe next time we lose two in a row it will be ‘Holy smokes, how did we do that?’, but right now that game is over let’s focus on what we have, four games to the break, the guys are tired, let’s get to Sunday and then generate enough energy for the three games on the road,” said Boudreau on his and the team’s mindset as the Winter Olympic break approaches.

Offense Delivers in Crunch Time: NHL scoring leader, Alexander Ovechkin, had another ho-hum two point night scoring the first goal and then setting up Nicklas Backstrom’s tally that made it 2-1. But what was even more impressive was that once again at the start of the third period this team struck like sharks in blood invested waters with a couple of daggers that turned a close game into one with a decided outcome. Brooks Laich took a breakout pass from Shaone Morrisonn and made a great play to set up Semin for an easy goal and then just 68 seconds later Chimera got his tally on an odd man rush. Washington’s winning streak has seen the Caps outscore opponents 62-29 (not including the goal awarded for winning a shootout in the first game of the streak). Also in the streak the Caps:

• have been held to three goals just twice and allowed as many as three goals just four times
• have had power-play goals in all but two games in the streak
• have outscored opponents 28-6 in the third period

Backstrom Leaves & Doesn’t Return: Perhaps the most important news of the night was that Backstrom left the game after two periods and did not return. #19 is a critical piece to this team but he does have a history with migraines. The good news is Backstrom is okay and will be able to play against the Penguins. Brian McNally of the DC Examiner talked to Backstrom and he said Nicky told him he was suffering from a headache.

“I thought he was just sick, I don’t know, I thought it was just flu-ish. He didn’t want to go on the ice with no energy, not be able to back check. [Trainer Greg Smith] Smitty told me on the bench at the start of the third period he was feeling better and would be okay for Sunday,” responded Boudreau when McNally presented him with the information he received from Backstrom.

Notes: Mike Green returned from suspension and had an empty net goal (13th of year for #52) to seal the deal in the last two minutes… Tom Poti (+1 in 23:27 of ice time) had another super game on defense, he is playing his best hockey as a Capital right now…Defenseman Karl Alzner played tonight but his broken stick helped lead to the first goal. He did pick up a plus on Backstrom’s goal and was even in just over 12 minutes of ice time…Tyler Sloan (healthy) and Brian Pothier (hand) were scratched on defense while Quintin Laing was once again the forward scratch…The Caps are now 22-3-3 at home and are 14-6-2 when the opposition scores first this season. Both stats lead the NHL and no team has won at least half of its games after giving up the first tally..Boudreau on the prospect of the Penguins coming in and ending Washington’s win streak: “Well you are playing against the Stanley Cup champions, I don’t know, but I gotta believe, that even if they say we are not a big rival for them, they would take an awful lot of pleasure by beating us in our building so it will be a big one.”…The Penguins are in Montreal on Saturday afternoon so who knows if they will even be able to fly in to DC on Saturday evening making Sunday’s contest a major question mark?…The Caps are 6-0-1 when they give up 40 or more shots but Boudreau won’t want to hear that stat..Eric Fehr was -2 and Brendan Morrison was -1 on Friday, #16 struggled, especially in his own zone in the first period…Washington was 1 for 5 on the power play and failed to score again on a two man advantage..the Thrashers went 0 for 3 with the man advantage.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis:

Ovechkin was his usual amazing self tonight and I thought for sure he would get a hat trick, which would have been the first for the Caps this season, but maybe he is saving it for his pal Sidney Crosby on Sunday??!! The Great #8 did notch is 500th career NHL point. He is the ninth player in NHL history to record 500 points in his first five seasons (joining Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Peter Stastny, Mike Bossy, Dale Hawerchuk, Bryan Trottier, Denis Savard and Jari Kurri). He is the fastest player to reach 500 points in terms of games since Eric Lindros (352nd game, 2/28/98). The Great #8 had a big shot block in the last 15 seconds and on the final face-off of the game he forced the Rangers defenseman to throw the puck to the side boards instead of shooting it. Washington is now 15-1 with Ovechkin as team captain.

The play of the night, and the key to the Caps win, was another highlight reel goal that Michal Rozsival will have nightmares about for quite some time. With time running down in the second period, and Washington losing 5-3, Ovechkin received an excellent Backstrom breakout pass at center ice, flew into the offensive zone and did a toe drag move on the Rangers d-man to go around him, and then he lifted the puck upstairs one handed on Lundqvist, who could not get all of it as it ended up in the net with just 8 ticks on the clock in period two. Boudreau felt that goal provided the lift his team needed to come back.

“I thought it was going to be a real challenge at 5-3 but when Alex made it 5-4 at the end of the period I thought we were right back in it,” said Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau.

“I thought Alex was going to get 1 or 2 chances to score in the third period because he was having one of those games but it was Nicky, who was having one of those games as well that did the damage,” finished Boudreau on his two top players.

Backstrom did some SERIOUS damage tonight and the behind the back pass he made to Knuble that tied this high scoring affair at two proves that #19 does indeed have eyes in the back of his head! Backstrom now has 24 goals and 45 assists in 57 games while Ovechkin has an incredible 38 goals and 42 assists in just 49 games. The Great #8 now leads the NHL in goals, points, and plus/minus.

The Rangers outshot the Caps 18-6 in the first period as Washington looked sluggish. Fortunately Theodore kept it at 1-0 when it could have been a two, three, or even four goal Rangers lead. The best line for the Capitals in the first period was the Dave Steckel, Boyd Gordon, and Matt Bradley trio, and it was #15 who tied things up at one. Gordon, who appears to finally be healthy after battling a balky back, now has goals in consecutive games.

In the second period the Caps came out smoking and took the lead, 3-2 on Ovechkin’s first of the evening, but then they started the parade to the box, something that historically has gotten them in trouble. The Caps took four penalties in the middle stanza and the Rangers lit the lamp on three of them. In fact, New York scored on 4 of their first 5 power play attempts (4 for 6 overall in the game). Boudreau noted afterwards that he didn’t think the Caps were that bad killing the penalties as New York got some bounces off of skates and shin pads for wide open tallies. Washington’s worst kill was likely the first one (Tomas Fleischmann hook) as they let Ryan Callahan have free reign in the slot and he deflected in an Olli Jokinen (recently acquired from Calgary) point blast. Callahan (1 goal, 1 assist) and Vinnie Prospal (2 goals, 2 assists) both had their usual good games against Washington. It doesn’t matter whether he is in Tampa, Philly, or New York, it seems #20 finds a way to play some of his best hockey against the Caps.

In the final stanza, Washington did what it has done so many times during this winning streak: dominate the third period. The Caps came out flying scoring just 59 seconds in on Tom Poti’s PP floater from the point and then 5:34 in Backstrom potted the winner. From there Washington controlled the play as evidenced by the fact that New York only had 6 shots on goal in the last 20 minutes. The Capitals hard effort resulted in the Rangers taking five third period penalties, two of which took the game clock down from 4:17 to just 30 ticks remaining.

About the only thing that went against the Caps down the stretch apparently was the second laser incident in the NHL this season. It is being reported that Theodore had to deal with a green laser in the final minute and the league is investigating the incident. Back around the turn of the New Year, Calgary’s Mikka Kiprusoff had to deal with the same type of device for much of their game in Vancouver. The perpetrator was never found at GM place so this is something that appears to be a difficult type of case to solve.

Washington continues to be tough to beat at 5 on 5 and the score at even manpower was 3-1, Caps. Boudreau’s club needs to clean up the penalties but he thought overall they were pretty good defensively despite giving up the five tallies. The slow starts are a concern but my theory is this: Washington, even though they went 3-0 during his suspension, really miss Mike Green. Poti did a very good job the last two games in #52’s absence but there is no substitute for Green’s ability to break the puck out of the Washington zone with speed and get the Caps legs and offense going early in contests. The silver lining in #52’s suspension was the banged up 2008-09 Norris Trophy Finalist got to rest his bad knee and aching body. I imagine “Lamborgreenie” will be flying on Friday night vs. Atlanta.

For Boudreau on Friday night, he does have an interesting decision to make as far as who will play in net. Semyon Varlamov and Michal Neuvirth are likely not available due to injuries so will rookie Braden Holtby, who backed up Theodore the last three games, get his first NHL start on Friday night? With the Caps in a 4 games over 6 night stretch (which concludes with the Sunday 12 noon battle with the Penguins) typically Boudreau would use two goalies to get through a grind like that. However, Washington Post beat reporter, Tarik El-Bashir, tweeted on Thursday night that the coach hinted that Theodore would go again on Friday night. This makes sense to me, not because I don’t like Holtby, I think he has a bright future, but this is the NHL and it takes a lot of practice time to learn the speed of the big league shots. With this compressed Olympic year schedule the Caps have not practiced much so Holtby probably is not ready to face an NHL club yet, but his time will come, he just has to be patient.

Notes: With Green coming back on Friday you can expect that defenseman Karl Alzner will be sent back down to Hershey…the Caps won the face-off battle 37-34…the 12th straight win is the longest in the NHL since New Jersey won 13 straight in 2000-01…the NHL record for most victories in a row is by the 1992-93 Penguins, who won 17 consecutive games..the Philadelphia Flyers have the record for the longest unbeaten streak at 35 games (25 wins, 10 ties), they set that in 1979-80.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis:

$4.5 Million Man on Fire: The night the Caps last lost a game, a 7-4 stinker in Tampa, I tweeted (@Emfrank123) that is was time for the guy making $4.5M to step up in net. Since that game #60 is 8-0 and up until tonight the game he played against the Detroit Red Wings back on January 19th, where he stopped 44 of 46 shots, was his best as a Cap. However, having seen the highlights of this contest against the Bruins again after watching it live, I am ranking this performance as #1 by Jose as a Capital. The Caps had numerous defensive zone breakdowns and Theo was hung out to dry several times but he would only be beaten on a Bruins 5 on 3 power play tally. Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler had at least four golden opportunities and were denied plus David Krejci (who scored the only B’s goal) received a questionable penalty shot but when Jose challenged him #46 fired wide. Theodore has a history of playing his best hockey in the final year of his contract and guess what? This is the last season of his two year deal with the Capitals.

“Jose was tremendous. They had so many more quality chances than we did,” said Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau on his goalie.

Caps No Shows in First period: The Bruins came into this one having lost seven straight contests and 11 of their last 13 games. They had not won a game in 2010 but you couldn’t tell that by the way they played most of the first 40 minutes. Boston thoroughly outplayed the Caps in period one but only had a single tally to show for it, thanks to Theodore. Poti also was one of the few Capitals to have a good first period, one in which Washington took four penalites, two of which overlapped for 41 seconds and Boston took only eight seconds to convert for their only goal of the evening. Overall the Bruins had 6 power plays in the contest and Washington needs to get back to being more disciplined.

“I thought they played to win and they kept coming at us but I thought they got frustrated. We hung around in the first period when they had four power plays and I figured if they didn’t have a two goal lead after one then we got a chance to win it,” commented Boudreau on the Bruins effort.

Third Period Domination: Much like they did in Pittsburgh on January 21, the Caps took control in the final period of a contest that was tied and denied Boston the lead in a game they should have been winning. Alexander Semin, who was having an off night up until that point primarily due to three stick infractions, made a super pass to Laich in the slot to give the Caps a 2-1 lead. 2:47 after that Poti, who had set up Knuble’s first tally by pinching down on the left wing boards and centering the puck, did the same thing except from the right wing boards and Gordon potted his first tally in 11 games to make it 3-1 to stun the hometown Bruins and their fans.

“When you have really skilled players they can go along all game normal and then be difference makers and he is one of those guys that when you need it he will make the great play whether he has had success or whether he has taken three hooking penalties,” added Boudreau on Semin.

Washington knows how to win: Let’s face it, the Caps really didn’t have a right to win this one after their lackluster opening period but in hockey, a goalie can keep a team in it, and that is what happened on Tuesday night. Add to the fact that this highly skilled Washington team continues to mature and seems to just know how to win you end up with an 11 game club record winning streak.

“We didn’t play really well yet found a way to win because [the players] believed that they could win,” finished Boudreau.

There isn’t a whole lot to add to this one, several Caps did not have good games tonight so it doesn’t make much sense to pick at this guy or that guy. Theodore and Poti really stood out and they deserve the accolades for the victory and were my (and officially the NHL’s) number one and two stars, respectively. Laich was my third star but a guy like Gordon, who scored a big goal and killed 4:12 of Bruins power play time had a nice night as well.

Next up for the Caps are the New York Rangers on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden (Comcast HD). Rangers GM Glen Sather just made a big trade with the Calgary Flames getting center Olli Jokinen and the tough Brandon Prust for stiff Ales Kotalik and snake bitten Christopher Higgins so I expect the Blueshirts to be pumped up to try and prevent the Caps from winning their 12th straight. But for tonight (and tomorrow), we can all say, “The Caps go to 11!”

The Caps headed to Boston today to take on the Bruins for tomorrow night’s game in Beantown, where they will seek a club record 11th straight victory. Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post reported this afternoon that the Caps players will have their fathers along for their annual road trip. Last year they took in the state of Florida while this season it will be Boston and then New York. The highlight of last season’s trip was Mike Green’s NHL record breaking 8th straight game with a goal by a defenseman in Tampa. Michal Neuvirth also picked up his first NHL victory. Could this year’s excursion be highlighted by a club record 11th straight win?

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post put together this great blog on the last time the Caps won 10 straight games, back in 1984. That was a great season for the Caps and Steinberg’s piece brings back some fond memories of being a 19 year old freshman at the University of Maryland who was a partial plan holder at the Capital Centre for a sport I fell in love with during the early 80’s after Rod Langway came to town.

Here are some of my recollections from that season:

- Early on the Caps were horrible after making their first ever playoff appearance in the spring of 1983 (lost to the Stanley Cup champion Islanders, 3 games to 1, in the first round). I remember being at the fifth game of the season in which they were defeated by the Penguins to drop to 0-5. They were playing so badly that me and one of my friends went down to the Showcase restaurant area and watched the Baltimore Orioles defeat the Philadelphia Phillies in game three of the World Series on television. Washington lost two more games and GM David Poile would trade defenseman Brian Engblom to the Los Angeles Kings for Larry Murphy. It was a great trade and to this day I don’t think Poile ever wanted to get rid of Murphy (a four time Stanley Cup Champion and NHL Hall of Famer), but because of the abuse #8 took from his own fans at the Capital Centre (the start of the “whoops”), the GM would move him at the deadline in 1989 to Minnesota in the Dino Ciccarelli deal (along with Mike Garnter; defenseman Bob Rouse came from the North Stars along with Dino).

- The winning streak was an amazing run and I attended the 8-2 bombing of the Oilers (sans Wayne Gretzky). Back then not every Capitals game was on tv so my Dad, who covered the Caps for the PG Post at the time (he also used to have a three hour sports radio show on WLMD in the mid-70’s), and I listened to Ron Weber broadcast the end of the streak in Winnipeg on WTOP 1500 AM. It was a great contest and I remember how crushed I was hearing Weber call out the awful Murphy/Pat Riggin giveaway and misplay that ended a great run.

- The team got very hot down the stretch and finished 48-27-5 for 101 points and were second in the Patrick Division to a somewhat aging Islanders team, who had just won their fourth straight Stanley Cup the previous season. The first round series was going to be against Coach Bob McCammon and the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were led by Tim Kerr, Brian Propp, and Dave Poulin but also had veteran stars Bobby Clarke and Darryl Sittler. They had also dressed two young feisty twins named Ron and Rich Sutter, who were universally despised by Caps fans. Back then the first round was a best of five but Washington gave Philly no chance and smoked them in three straight. The best game was the clincher at the Spectrum, where even Bobby Carpenter and Mike Gartner both dropped the gloves with a different Sutter en route to a total Flyer butt whipping.

- Washington had momentum going into the Islanders series while New York had struggled to defeat their cross town rival Rangers in five games, winning the final contest in overtime. It might have been the only time in my life that I rooted for the Rangers to win! It was an incredible game, one of the best I’ve ever seen. I recall Mark Pavelich and Don Maloney having great scoring chances with one of them hitting a post on a shot that would have given the Blueshirts the victory, but when it was all over, Washington would have to take on the four time champs. The Caps won game one up in Uniontown and then in game two the Islanders jumped out to a quick first period lead but Washington pulled Al Jensen, put in Riggin, and nearly won the contest, only to lose in OT, 5-4. Thus game three was going to be the pivotal one of the series and I had a ticket in the second row behind the Caps net. It was a low scoring affair and the game, and the series in my opinion, turned on a weird penalty call on Carpenter. No, it wasn’t a trip or hook where an Islander player took a dive, it was an equipment infraction - #10 had a hole in his glove and was given a two minute minor! Well from there New York scored on the power play and went on to a 3-1 victory that just crushed the Caps and their fans. The Isles then won games 4 and 5 fairly easily to end the Capitals season.

Ovechkin, Backstrom Win Awards

The organization announced some more awards courtesy of both the NHL and AHL this afternoon. Let’s start with the NHL where Alexander Ovechkin was named the NHL Player of the Month (aka the first star, Henrik Sedin of the Canucks was second while Tomas Vokoun of Florida was the third star) for January. In addition, the Great #8’s centerman, Nicklas Backstrom, was named the third star of this past week (Forward Shane Doan of Phoenix was the first star while goalie Brian Elliott of Ottawa was the second). Here are the award write-ups for both Ovechkin and Backstrom, courtesy of the Caps Media Relations Department:

Ovechkin led all scorers in January with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists) and posted a +16 rating in 15 games, helping the Capitals go 13-2-0 and finish the month with a franchise record-tying 10-game winning streak. Named team captain Jan. 5, Ovechkin tallied eight multiple-point games thereafter, beginning with three points (one goal, two assists), a +4 rating and 10 shots on goal in a 5-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators Jan. 7. He tallied his first career four-assist game and tied a career high with five points in a 6-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs Jan. 15 and notched three points (two goals, one assist) in a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins Jan. 21. Ovechkin closed the month by scoring the game-winning goal in the third period of a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 31. The reigning Hart and Richard Trophy winner ranks second in the NHL in goals (35), second in points (76), first in shots (248) and first in plus/minus (+35).

Backstrom paced the League’s highest-scoring offense with seven points (two goals, five assists) and posted a +6 rating as the Capitals (37-12-6) tied a franchise record by extending their winning streak to 10 games. He notched one assist in victories over the New York Islanders (7-2, Jan. 26) and Anaheim Ducks (5-1, Jan. 27), notched a goal and two assists in a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers Jan. 29 and finished the week with one goal and one assist in a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 31. The 22-year-old center ranks second on the Capitals in scoring and sixth in NHL with 63 points (23 goals, 40 assists). He already has set a single-season career high in goals, eclipsing the 22 from last season.

Aucoin Wins Award

Also receiving an award in the Capitals organization is forward Keith Aucoin of the Hershey, who was named the AHL Player of the Month for January. Here is the press release courtesy of John Walton, who is the Bears Senior Manager of Communications:

The American Hockey League announced today that Hershey Bears center Keith Aucoin has been named the Reebok/AHL Player of the Month for January. Aucoin erupted for 35 points in 14 games on the month, registering 12 goals and 23 assists along with a plus-11 rating.
 
Aucoin averaged 2.50 points per game in January, a scorching pace that vaulted him to the top of the league leaderboard in goals, assists and points. Among his 10 multiple-point performances were five three-point efforts and three four-point nights, and he capped the month by becoming the 42nd player in AHL history to reach 600 career points with a goal and two assists on Jan. 31 vs. Binghamton. Aucoin had at least one assist in every game, and he enters February with a 16-game assist streak – one game shy of the all-time AHL record. He also appeared in his fifth consecutive AHL All-Star Classic last month and scored his first career All-Star goal.
 
In recognition of his achievement, Aucoin will be presented with an etched crystal award prior to an upcoming Bears home game.
 
Aucoin sits first in the AHL with 28 goals, 43 assists and 71 points in 41 games for Hershey in 2009-10. He ranks second with seven game-winning goals – including three in January – and fourth with his plus-26 rating. In 546 games over nine AHL seasons, Aucoin has registered 187 goals and 413 assists (good for 24th all-time) for 600 points. He has added eight goals and 18 assists in 74 career NHL games, including a goal and four assists in nine contests with Washington this year.

Here are quotes, analysis, and highlights from the record tying win:

Crowd Dead: Home ice has definitely been good to the Caps this year and they are now 21-3-3 at the Phone Booth. Seven of the 10 wins on this streak have come at the often raucous Verizon Center. Today, however, was the quietest I have heard the building since early in the 2007-08 season (pre-Bruce Boudreau era). I don’t know what the deal was but the arena lacked energy. It could have been the boring style of play that the Lightning brought, it could have been the lack of first period scoring chances, or it could have been the 3pm start, who knows? One would think that just the chance to win 10 straight games would have had the fans fired up but they weren’t this afternoon. Whatever the case, the crowd that loves to “Rock the Red” typically is a huge help to Washington but it wasn’t really until the video board played “Unleash the Fury” with eight minutes left that they got into this one. Even still, the arena was at a much lower decible level than normal shortly after Ovechkin put the Caps ahead late in the third period. The head coach definitely noticed the lower decibel levels on Sunday.

“I thought the crowd was quieter than most. [Tampa] came out and all they wanted to do was check and I think they had only one or two scoring chances in the first period. It wasn’t a real up and down tempo. There were a lot of whistles and no penalties, so it was a quiet game in that respect,” said Boudreau on the lack of energy in the building.

Style of Hockey to Expect Going Forward: On Friday night the Caps had to deal with the Panthers trap and today it was an ultra conservative, defense first minded Lightning squad that the high powered Capitals had to defeat. Washington will likely face a lot of this type of play from here on out because teams are afraid of getting into a shootout with such an offensively talented club like the Caps. Boudreau spoke to his team about dealing with that going forward.

“We talked about that they are putting you to sleep and you’ve got to stay strong and this is how some teams will play that we might meet in the playoffs. They are a very defensive minded team,” added Boudreau on Tampa’s style of play.

“The first two periods it was kind of a boring game, both sides, but then in the third they started putting more pressure and they got the skill to come back from a two goal game and that is what they did tonight and they have Vinny [Lecavalier], [Steven] Stamkos, [Martin] St. Louis, all these guys that could score goals and I thought we never panicked tonight, scored the big goal at the end and just played solid D,” said Caps goalie Jose Theodore (25 saves) on the lack of flow and how is team prevailed.

“I would say they dulled the game down is the way to describe it. They didn’t want to match firepower with firepower, especially the way that our offense has been clicking so they tried to beat us another way by chipping pucks deep, keeping pucks low, falling back in the neutral zone, trying to limit our speed. I thought they did a good job of taking away our speed and our offensive chances early on then our power play gets a goal and we were able to get another one after that and just fortunate that we pulled it through at the end,” said forward Brooks Laich, who made it 2-0 Caps in the second period with his 16th tally of the season from three feet out. The goal was set up by a nice passing play between Tomas Fleischmann (2 assists) and Alexander Semin (1 assist).

“I think we are going to see that even more down the stretch here. Teams that we have been playing here are just scraping for points. So none of these teams want to get into a pond hockey game with us, they don’t want to be exchanging chances. They are clamping down and they figure the best way to beat us or get a point is to play well defensively, try to give up as least amount of chances as possible, and hang around for a point. It’s patience really, stick to the game plan, just because you don’t get one early in the game don’t get frustrated, you don’t have to go beating guys one on one on the red line. These teams are waiting for turnovers and try to have a transition game against us but it speaks to the fact that some playoff games might be like this, you are not going to score 4, 5, or 6 goals a night come playoff time so you have to be able to adjust and adapt and play in these tight games,” said center Brendan Morrison, who played the point on the first power play unit with Mike Green out of the lineup due to a three game suspension.

Sloan Excels With Green Out: Tyler Sloan (+1), who played six games in a row for the Caps before sitting out the last four tilts, was very good today in 16:30 of ice time. He  drew a tripping penalty on Alex Tanguay just 5:48 into the contest and he also made a super takeaway on the ultra talented Stamkos in the second period.

“He’s a heckuva a player and he had good speed going wide but I didn’t panic, I just kept backpedaling, I knew he couldn’t cut inside on me so he kept going wide. When you are playing the right side and you’re a left shot, your stick is on that side so it is easier to poke check,” started Sloan on the steal he made against Stamkos. “No, I haven’t, he’s a pretty skilled and he can try just about anything, I just knew he had nowhere to go, he was running out of room and he as soon as he got to the point of no return I turned and pokechecked,” finished #89 when asked if he had ever seen the 2008 1st overall pick in the NHL entry draft try that move before and how he finished the play off.

Sloan enjoyed being paired with the solid Jeff Schultz for the first time since his NHL debut.

“You know what, I think the last time I played with Schultzie was my first game in the NHL in Calgary. I don’t know if we have [played together] since then. Maybe a little bit once in awhile on the PK but not a regular shift since last year. We’re the Calgary connection. Schultzie is a great player, he is easy to play with. We both make the simple play and he is pretty defensive so it allows me to jump up in the play a little bit and use my skating,” added Sloan on his day paired with #55.

I asked Boudreau if #89’s good play carried extra merit because he has been in and out of the line-up so often.

“I think if you look at it’s hard but it shouldn’t be hard, you should be prepared and ready to play. He could have been 30 games in the minors and you come up and your stuck in the lineup and be just as good as anybody on the ice. So we practice all of the time and he’s practicing. That is one aspect of your job when you are the sixth, seventh defenseman is to stay ready because if you are not ready and you get thrown in the game and you don’t do a good job than you don’t continue to stay the sixth or seventh defenseman. That is why Quintin Laing, no matter when I put him in, I know he is gonna be great because he’s ready and he knows his roll and so does Tyler and I thought Tyler played really good, by the way, I’m just saying it’s not something extraordinary that he played good, he should be playing good,” added Boudreau on Sloan.

Goaltending Battle: Theodore was hurt on Long Island this past Tuesday night and Michal Neuvirth stepped in to keep the winning streak alive. Neuvirth’s reward, with #60 healthy again, was a trip to Hershey to try and get in five games with the Bears so he can play in the AHL during the upcoming Olympic break. Theo picked up where he left off before the minor hip injury with a solid peformance. The players are aware of how well the goalies have been playing.

“It is nice to have a couple of guys that you can throw in there. That is a cursed blessing because you have a couple of goalies that are playing well right now but there is only one of them that can play each game so I think it is a good competition. They are pushing each other to play better in net and for us, as players, there is nothing better than playing in front of hot goalies,” added #21 on the excellent goaltending Washington has been receiving during the winning streak.

Face-off Domination Aids Win Again: The Caps once again won the face-off battle, 31-23, but I hadn’t seen today’s ending before. With goalie Mike Smith (28 saves) pulled for an extra attacker the Bolts pressured late and forced several face-offs in Washington’s end. Dave Steckel (5-6 on the day) is the Caps number one man from the dot and he won a draw with 10 seconds left. Tom Poti, who had a solid outing on Sunday, iced the puck taking the game clock down to 2.4 seconds. That set up one final draw for the Lightning to try and tie it. Tampa, as I pointed out to John Keeley (On Frozen Blog) who was sitting next to me in the press box, had been cheating on face-offs all evening by leaning in early. Lecavalier must have assumed he could do it again for this final draw but it all blew up in his face and he was given a penalty for pushing it too far with the officials. Boudreau explained what he saw from his vantage point on the bench.

“Obviously they kicked him out and he didn’t want to get kicked out and he had a few choice words for the linesman. I think they were going to let it go but he just persisted and persisted and that is when they gave him the penalty. I think the referee was just protecting his linesman from getting abused and once that happens and the face-off is down the other end it takes all of their chance of winning the game or tying it up away,” said the 2007-08 NHL Coach of the Year on how the game finished.

“Usually if you are cheating they will give you a warning, if you cheat again they will throw you out, that is kind of the protocol and they might give some leniency to guys that have been around a little longer than that. That is the general rule of thumb. They’ll let you encroach a bit but if you are totally crossing the line then they’ll throw you out,” said Morrison on how draws are usually monitored in a given contest.

Why Are the Caps Winning So Often?: This Caps squad has a lot of talent, no doubt, but in the last month things have really gelled and Washington has become a real dominant team. The club is healthy up front for pretty much the first time all season and the line combinations have been stable over the course of the last 11 games so those are contributing factors. But it is more than just health and set lines, according to Laich and the vetern center, Morrison.

“I think we are starting to learn. I think our team is starting to mature and you’ve seen that in this streak. I thought the game we played in Pittsburgh when we were tied going into the third and then we got up two goals in the third I thought we really sufficated them. We took control of the game and we didn’t get into a run and gun, risky hockey game. We are being more disciplined, not giving up so many power play chances, so I think we are starting to mature and I think that is why you are starting to see a winning streak build up there,” said Laich, who stressed before the season that Washington must learn to stick to their system if they want to win a Stanley Cup, like Pittsburgh did last June.

“We aren’t thinking about 11 or 12, it’s all about the process. If we come in and take care of things night in and night out, things will take care of themselves,” finished Morrsion on why the Caps have been able to win 10 games in a row.

With this victory the Caps are now 36-12-6 and have a six point lead in the Eastern Conference standings over the New Jersey Devils. They are just a single point behind the San Jose Sharks for 1st place overall in the NHL (and they are tied for second in the league with the Chicago Blackhawks). The nine game winning streak is the second longest in team history and they will try and tie the 1983-84 team that won a club record 10 games in a row when they face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday at 3pm at the Verizon Center. The Lightning were the last team to knock off the Capitals this season and that was the night that Matt Bradley prevented Alexander Ovechkin from fighting Bolts chief punk Steve Downie late in the 7-4 Washington defeat.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis of this one:

I agree with Boudreau, the Caps were not very good on Friday, especially early and they can thank Neuvirth for being so sharp. The Caps struggled with the Panthers neutral zone trap as they tried to pass through the three Florida guys positioned at the red line instead of dumping the puck in and then working the cycle game. That led to some odd man rushes and scoring chances for Florida. Washington also was aided by an off game by goalie Tomas Vokoun who gave up some big rebounds, especially the second Cap goal scored by Knuble.

“I thought we were lucky actually. We didn’t have our best game tonight. We gave up way too many chances. Neuvirth was outstanding and when you get the good goaltending sometimes you overlook your mistakes,” said Boudreau on the play of his club against Florida.

“Tonight we didn’t play very well. Fortunately we had great goaltending and timely goals. When you are on a roll things happen like that,” said Caps defenseman Brian Pothier.

Neuvirth had his second straight super outing, and third straight win, since being yanked in back to back games in the Sunshine State. The young guy seems to be maturing in his play and mentally too.

“He is an NHL type goalie. I think that is the 15th game he has played and of the last 12 he’s played he’s had one off night. I’ve seen Martin Brodeur had an off night too.” commented Boudreau on #30’s goaltending.

Last year, the Caps scored a lot of goals but many bemoaned the fact that, other than Brooks Laich, they lacked the ability to score the ugly tally in close. Well with the addition of Knuble it seems that more than just #22 are going to the net. Backstrom scored his first off of a Knuble rebound (and Green made a nice rush and pass to set that goal up), then Ovechkin (1 assist, +2) fired a shot off of Knuble’s skate into the net after Backstrom’s initial blast was mishandled by Vokoun, and the third goal was a Jeff Schultz point shot that got by Vokoun because Brooks Laich was screening the Panthers net minder.

“We were second in goals last year..but we didn’t get alot from in the paint.. and [Knuble] does a great job at that.  It is something we practice all the time, going to the net,” added Boudreau on why his team is scoring more goals in close this season.

WashingtonCaps.com reporter Mike Vogel asked the coach about the recent ability of the Caps to have more of a killer instinct, something we’ve especially seen during the nine game winning streak and is aided by the fact that the team is finally fairly healthy at forward.

“We got the 3rd and 4th [goals] pretty quick and that makes it easier to play. Then what happens is other teams open up and sometimes if you open it up we’ve got just as many chances to score as you do,” said Boudreau.

Last month, when talking to a Western Conference scout, he told me the Caps “should forget goaltending and just play run and gun.” Well, Washington is getting good goaltending and then when they get the lead, other teams are forced to go “run and gun.” With the Capitals highly skilled line-up the law of probability says that the team George McPhee and his staff has assembled is going to come out on top a very high percentage of the time when a contest opens up with Washington leading, much like the dominant Edmonton Oilers teams of the 1980’s did to its’ opponents.

As for Green, it was a crazy night and it seemed the Panthers put a bullseye on him and they hit #52 at every chance. Green and Kulikov exchanged checks early in this one and then late in the second period the Panther came across and caught Green with his leg while trying to catch him with his shoulder first, much like some of the ones that some of the very whacky Canadian media have criticized Ovechkin for. The two locked knees, with Green’s right one appearing to buckle, and after he laid on the ice for a minute or so, trainer Greg Smith and forward Eric Fehr carried him to the bench with #52 not putting any weight on his right leg. However, Green came out midway through the third period and skated during a timeout, then went back down the runway to the locker room.

“I assume he will play Sunday. He came out there and he said he was fine but we didn’t want to take any chances. Players always say they are fine but it is more of a charlie horse than anything else. It was like knee on knee but it was high. I thought Mike might have been a little careless, a little casual, when he cut into the middle there. I’m just really happy to see that it is not going to be long term,” said Boudreau on the injury that Green told reporters afterwards definitely was his knee.

The controversy is on the elbow to Frolik and it is more fodder for some of the anti-Capitals Canadain media who seem to look for any borderline play involving a Washington player. Ferraro, who was never one of my favorites, called for five games minimum while Darren Dreger was much more reserved and pointed out there likely would be a hearing but that NHL Director of Hockey Operations, Colin Campbell, can’t be involved because his son, Gregory Campbell, plays for Florida. Thus VP of Hockey Operations, Mike Murphy, will handle the matter.

Courtesy of a tweet from Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post, Green had the following to say on the elbow: “I didn’t mean to elbow him. I might have got it up. I thought it was my shoulder.”

“I don’t think he will [get suspended]. Frolik got up and was fine,” added Pothier, defending his teammate on the hit to Frolik.

Back to the contest, Florida, who is battling for their playoff lives, really came out strong and was determined to try and defeat the Caps on Friday night for the first time this season, something Boudreau definitely noticed.

“They were working awful hard, coming at us preetty good. They had a sense of urgency and they’ve lost four in a row to us. They had three days off to prepare for this so they came out pretty hard so it didn’t surprise me that they were going to do everything in their power to win,” finished Boudreau on the Florida approach.

Florida Coach Peter DeBoer was clearly disappointed in his team and the problems they had in trying to win at the Verizon Center against a highly skilled Capitals team.

“They have a lot of confidence and I didn’t think we helped ourselves with our puck management. Some of our decisions with the puck weren’t very good and against a team like that, unless you bring your A+ game, they are going to make you look bad and that is what happened. I thought our first period was good but we were fortunate it was only 2-1 after the 2nd because I thought they took control of the game. We talked about hanging around and trying to get it to overtime and obviously the next goal is a key and we lose a draw in our own end and it is in the net,” said the former Kitchener Rangers Ontario Hockey League coach on his team’s effort.

Here are some more interesting notes and statistics on the current Capitals team:

• Washington is now 12-2-0 in the month of January. With the win, the Caps matched the franchise record for most victories in a month. The Capitals went 12-2-2 in Dec. 1984, posting a franchise record for most points (26) in a month in the process.
• The Caps outshot the Panthers 40-36 in the contest for their second straight contest with 40 or more shots and 10th game of the season. The Caps are 9-0-1 this season when they record 40 or more shots in a game.
• The Capitals have now recorded a power-play goal in eight straight contests, and lead the league with 54 power play goals. The Caps are 15 for 37 (40.5%) on the power play in their last 11 games. They are now 16-0-1 when they don’t allow a power-play goal and score one of their own.
• The Capitals were a perfect 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and have not allowed a power play goal in five of their last six games (25-for-26). The Caps are 22-1-3 when they do not allow a power-play goal.

Programming Note: On Saturday, January 30 at 1:25pm I will be on-air at WNST talking with Section 410 host Eric Aaronson about the Capitals. You can listen live on 1570 AM or via WNST.NET

Holtby, 20, is a first-year pro who stands 6’1”, 209 pounds. He has split this season with Hershey and the South Carolina Stingrays (ECHL) while making appearances as a backup for the Capitals against Anaheim last night and Oct. 17 vs. Nashville.

Holtby has posted a 15-2-1 record with Hershey and leads the AHL with a 1.82 goals-against average. His .935 save percentage ranks fourth in the league and he has won four straight games for the Bears. In South Carolina Holtby posted a 7-2-1-2 record with a 2.95 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage, earning a spot in the ECHL All-Star Game.

The Lloydminster, Saskatchewan, native was the Capitals’ fourth-round choice, 93rd overall, in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

COMMENT: Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post reported today that Jose Theodore skated then stated that his hip feels better enough to go this weekend. The Caps host Florida on Friday night at 7pm and Tampa Bay at 3pm on Sunday.

Here are the highlights, quotes, and analysis:

Believe it or not, this was a close game into the third period thanks to Giguere, but after Ovechkin leveled Ducks forward Bobby Ryan with a nice shoulder check by the benches, the energy of the Caps went to another level. Former Capital Alan May, commenting on Comcast, felt that the hit by the Great #8 spurred on the Capitals explosion and turned the lights out on Anaheim. Ryan, who tried to mix it up with Mike Green in the second period as well, was sent whimpering to the bench after the Ovie hit and as May alluded to, the New Jersey boy was one of many Ducks done for the night.

“It often does, I don’t know if that was the turning point, I thought we just kept coming but a hit can be a crowd turner,” commented Boudreau when asked if the hit on Ryan was the catalyst for the Washington victory.

When Ovechkin scored just 36 seconds into the contest after a nice Green keep in that he followed with a shot that was deflected by Mike Knuble directly to the Great #8 (who put it in an open net), it appeared a Caps victory would be an after thought. Washington had 13 of the first 15 shots and if not for Giguere, who won a Stanley Cup and also was the Conn Smythe winner (NHL Playoff MVP) in 2002 in a losing cause to New Jersey, this one would have been a rout. But Anaheim hung around by scoring on a shift when every Capital player on the ice made a mistake in the second period. The third period, however, would belong totally to the Caps.

“The guys like what they’re doing right now. They like winning. We talked about it in the dressing room in between periods. It’s about going after them. [We've] got a good thing going and let’s just take it right to them and see where it leads…This was a game that was like a playoff game for us. Can we play in a close game? Can we get the lead and hold onto the lead? Can we do those things? And I thought we did a good job in the third period,” added Boudreau on his team’s third period approach.

“We went into the end of the second period and it’s a playoff game out here. They were playing with desperation and we just buckled down and you know with our crowd here it is exciting to be here and guys just worked hard and we got that end result, a win, and we are on a roll right now,” said defenseman Shaone Morrisonn, who notched the game winning tally tonight, his first goal of the season (he also added an assist). #26 has been playing really well since back to back horror show performances in Florida a few weeks back.

Neuvirth, who took over on Tuesday night on Long Island for the third period when Jose Theodore went down with what is believed to be a hip flexor injury (thanks Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post), was very good Wednesday limiting his rebounds by frequently gloving or covering the puck in Washington’s end. The only goal he allowed was a huge rebound but the three forwards (Brooks Laich, Tomas Fleischmann, and Semin) all made mistakes that allowed Sheldon Brookbank to fire a point blast that Neuvirth had trouble with because Morrisonn screened him by trying to get out of the way. The other defenseman on the ice, Brian Pothier, was out of position at the blue line so you could fault each of the six Caps players on Dan Sexton’s tap in goal that tied it at one with 8:37 left in the second period.

“I thought he was really good. I thought he controlled everything, smothered it. We ended up getting a lot of faceoffs in our zone, but I think we’re one of the better faceoff teams so when you have that, that’s to your advantage. Out of 30 shots, 15 he smothered for faceoffs which is really, really good,” said Boudreau on the play of #30.

Neuvirth, who made the comment on Saturday night that he thought his career was over after his Sunshine State debacle, appears to have his confidence back, something that Boudreau recognized as well.

“That is a young guy [making a statement like that]. I think his career is fairly safe for the next several years,” said the 2007-08 Coach of the Year on Neuvirth.

“Neuvy was awesome for us, all of our goalies are great, we have great depth, you know that is what you need. Our ultimate goal is to win the Cup this year and you need great goaltending to do that,” finished Morrisonn.

Green (1 assist, +2, 7 shots on goal in 22:26) was superb against Anaheim. He was definitely the best defenseman in the contest, and that included four time Stanley Cup winner and 2010 Team Canada Winter Olympics captain Scott Niedermayer, who Ovechkin made look absolutely silly on several occassions, including the play where he set up Knuble for a tap in that made it 3-1. Nicklas Backstrom also made the Ducks defense look like orange road cones on numerous instances and he picked up an assist and was +2, as well.

“It’s nice from my standpoint that you’ve got those kinds of weapons at your disposal. I knew Ovi was going to have a good game today because he didn’t have any points yesterday. I thought Nicky [Backstrom] was by far the best player on the ice and he just didn’t get rewarded for it, but he was spectacular. But you’ve got weapons on every line that can score and it was again the third line that got it generated. It’s a good feeling to have because what happens then is when you’re behind, you always know you have a chance to catch up,” said Boudreau on his red hot squad.

Knuble, if he can stay healthy. will be a major force for Washington in the post season. #22 now has six goals in his last seven games.

“He just goes to the net and [the puck] is usually around there. He is a skilled player, you don’t score 20 goals a year for 8 seasons without skill,” commented Boudreau on #22’s ability.

Semin has been on a torrid pace with 11 goals and 10 assists in his last 12 games. He appears to be playing the best hockey of his career.

“He sure is playing hard, you can’t say alot of negative things about Alex Semin right now. He is on a roll that only Ovie has seen. He comes to play every night and he is doing it with a smile on his face, which is really good,” added Boudreau on the immensely talented #28.

The Caps were a perfect 2 for 2 while shorthanded and Boyd Gordon put on an absolute penalty killing clinic on his shift on the Ducks second power play opportunity. Gordon was all over the ice getting in the shooting and passing lanes then making good clears to waste Anaheim power play time. This guy, when healthy, is a very valuable piece to the Capitals potential Stanley Cup puzzle.

Fan and locker room favorite, Matt Bradley, had a nice fight with Mike Brown at 6:24 of the third period. Brads, who is a known bleeder, may have actually won that bout!

For the Ducks, who are in a major playoff position battle in the Western Conference, this was a disappointing loss on a 13 day road trip.

“Yeah, it’s a little frustrating because after that first goal in the third period it seems like we went flat.  It felt like everybody just quit.  We were still in it.  It was an unfortunate bounce off of [defenseman Steve Eminger's] skate and these things are going to happen.  It would have been important for us to come back and re-establish our game but for some reason we didn’t seem to have the energy anymore to fight it off. They have a good team. They’re playing well at home.  Their best player, [Ovechkin] is often every night their best player.  They’re getting some good goaltending.  Often, other teams probably give them too much respect and tonight we gave them a little too much respect.  You can’t watch them play, you have to play with them and hope for the best,” said Giguere on his team along with his thoughts on the Caps.

Here are some interesting notes following Wednesday’s victory, courtesy of the Caps Media Relations Department:

• The win tonight matches the Capitals longest winning streak since the club recorded a 10-game streak in 1983-84 (the team had eight-game streaks twice since then, most recently in 1988-89). Bruce Boudreau has led the Capitals to a winning streak of at least seven games in each of his three seasons behind the bench.
• Washington has outscored its opponents 41-18 during the eight-game winning streak (an average of 5.13-2.25).
• The Capitals extended their Southeast Division lead to 21 points, the largest in franchise history.
• The Capitals surpassed 200 goals on the season tonight (now 203, not counting shootout goals). No other team in the NHL has 175 goals.

Next up for the Caps, after a day off on Thursday (no practice), are the Florida Panthers on Friday night at the Verizon Center.