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The despised Philadelphia Flyers came to the Verizon Center on Sunday afternoon hoping to get revenge for the 8-2 drubbing the Washington Capitals put on them back on December 5th at the Wachovia Center. They would not as the Caps knocked them off again, 5-3, to take the season series 3-0-1. Brooks Laich broke out of a huge scoring slump to tally twice, including a beautiful shorthanded goal that made it 4-2 in the third period, and he also added an assist on Alexander Semin’s power play goal to give Washington a 3-2 advantage in period two. Jose Theodore (30 saves) gave up a shaky first goal but after that was very solid between the pipes for the Caps. This win improves Washington’s overall record to 30-12-6 and moves them back into first place in the Eastern Conference with 66 points. This is the latest in the season Washington has been #1 in the conference. The Capitals have won three in a row and are 6-1 since Alexander Ovechkin (1 goal, 1 assist) took over as team captain.

Let’s get right to the highlights, quotes, and analysis:

Laich (2 goals, 1 assist) apparently had an afternoon film session with Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau and the 2007-08 Jack Adams winner pointed out some things for Brooksie to improve upon, like getting to the net. Well it worked, #21 scored Washington’s second goal by burying a Tomas Fleischmann rebound from three feet away, next it was his screen and tip of a Mike Green point blast that led to Semin’s tally, and then he made the play of the game stripping Flyers captain Mike Richards of the puck while shorthanded, went in alone, and made Philly goalie Ray Emery look stupid, beating him upstairs to make it 4-2. That individual effort, from the hardest working Cap, really cemented this contest for Washington.

“He is a very intense young man and sometimes he tries to do too much. We just looked over his video, his shifts, his goals and we saw if there was anything we could find that he was doing different. I was so happy when he scored. He takes everything so personal and you will never find a guy who cares as much as Brooks Laich and that is why I am so happy for him to get the two goals. Even if he went 20 games without a goal, I would still have confidence and believe in him,” said Boudreau about the guy who is typically the first one on the ice and the last one off of it at practice.

“[Coach Boudreau] said to get back to being determined, keep skating, using your assets, go the net and good things will happen. He was coach of the year for a reason. He’s such a smart guy. He’s got his hands all over the game. You just trust his word and tonight I got some rewards from it,” added Laich on the coach who helped turned things around for Capitals hockey from the minute he was hired on Thanksgiving Eve of 2007.

Semin (1 goal, 1 assist) seems to play some of his best games against the Flyers and Sunday was no exception. #28 made a tremendous stick check on girly hair man Scott Hartnell along the right wing boards to set up Fleischmann for the shot that led to Laich’s first tally. I don’t think there is a more talented player in the league at taking the puck away from an opponent by lifting his stick from behind. Semin also had a tap in goal that would have been the game winner if not for a late Danny Briere power play tally. Semin’s game seems to have really elevated since his Russian comrade Ovechkin took over the captaincy.

As for Ovechkin, it was another two point night and he scored for the first time in six tries in his career on an in game penalty shot (and that got the fans at the VC free wings!). The Great #8 froze Emery (17 saves) on his attempt and he easily roofed it by a goalie that is average, at best, in my opinion. Ovie also made a super play to set up Mike Knuble for Washington’s first tally outworking the Flyers in the corner and throwing the puck on the Philly netminder, who bobbled it like a bad shortstop, allowing #22 to slam it home to tie the game at one. I only had one complaint against the Alexes today, and that was to shoot the puck more, especially on a weaker goalie like Emery. The two of them are so good, unselfish, and unfortunately too cute at times and need to just unleash their shots when they have an opening. Many times the quick release with a rebound is the best pass.

Speaking of complaints, I know the Flyers outshot the Caps 33-22 but the main reason was because they received five power plays to just one for Washington (the Caps also were awarded Ovechkin’s penalty shot). What game was Dan Marouelli and Kelly Sutherland watching? The roughing call on Tyler Sloan was embellished and much less than what the underachieving Braydon Coburn did to Semin in the neutral zone in the second period. And as Caps video producer and emergency bench door opener, Brett “Stretch” Leonhardt, tweeted during the second period, the shift where Hartnell and Sloan went off for roughing could have resulted in five minors alone being called on #19. Hartnell should have been called for a rough to the head of Tom Poti, at a minimum, 30 seconds before the actual coincidental minors were whistled. The power play the Caps received was the result of an OBVIOUS hold of Sloan by Jeff Carter yet Philadelphia CSN reporter Tim Pinaccio whined about it two times on Twitter describing the call as HORRIBLE. Hey Tim, that one was even a penalty pre-lockout buddy. Boudreau didn’t specifically single out the referees for the lack of calls but if you closely follow this quote about the Caps offense you can read between the lines as to what Bruce is hinting at.

“We have three lines that can score, and the 4th line creates the momentum so the other lines can score…they are very valuable. Eventually it is going to stop, we are not going to score 5 goals every game. I don’t know [why we are scoring so much], but it is not because of power plays, if we start getting some more PP’s maybe we will continue to score at that clip,” added Boudreau. Maybe this anti-Caps bias coming from Canada is getting to the zebras too??!!

The Flyers carried the early play and Theodore should have had Carter’s wide open wrister from the top of the left wing circle that went five hole on him. But after that I couldn’t fault #60 for the two other Philadelphia goals and he made numerous key stops in a game that was close until the Ovechkin tally.

“I was really secure with him today as I was the last game and in Florida as well,” commented Boudreau on his goaltender.

As for the slow start, Boudreau had the following to say on that issue.

“You start with a penalty, and then two penalties, and a 3-on-1 we don’t convert on, maybe we weren’t as sharp out of the gate as we would have liked to have been, or maybe they [Philadelphia] wanted it really badly. I watched their warm-up closely and they had their game faces on like it was a playoff game. I am sure they wanted to make amends for the last time we played them and they came out really hard,” added Boudreau on a contest that seemed to have post season intensity.

Getting out of the first period tied, was something the coach felt boded well for his club.

“We weathered the storm, that is why I thought after it was 2-2 after the first period, I felt good and knew we would be better,” Boudreau said.

“I think it’s a three o’clock game and we were kind of sleepy and they were more fresh and they got a goal. It’s good for us we bounced back in the second period and our power play worked,” added Ovechkin.

As for the defense, they started shaky but steadily improved. Shaone Morrisonn (+2, 20:13 of ice time) had his best game in at least a month and Tyler Sloan (Even in 15:51 of ice time) was better too, but I still don’t rank him ahead of Karl Alzner. Perhaps the mention by Boudreau on Saturday that #27 might be back up with the Caps as soon as this week got the attention of those two guys who had really been struggling? Also, defenseman John Carlson played his best game at the NHL level, even though he will almost surely go back to Hershey tomorrow so he can participate in the AHL all star game. #74 was +2 in 15:51 of play and was strong on the puck all afternoon.

“I think every game is physical, but definitely I think Philadelphia and Toronto are two of the top physical teams and any time you can get in a game like that and stand up and feel pretty good out there it’s a good boost of confidence,” said the Team USA World Junior Championships gold medal winning hero, who I believe could very likely start next season with the Caps in the NHL.

“Our much maligned defense played pretty steady, I thought,” finished Boudreau, taking a shot at the critics who tend to point at the back line as the weak point of Washington’s squad.

Flyers coach Peter Laviolette felt his team made too many mistakes on Sunday and that was the difference in the game.

“Some of the early goals were tough. We missed an assignment and there was a rebound, back door. That hurt. There was one that hit a skate and went right to somebody; it’s tough to cover that. If we go into the third period tied, we might win it and get out of here with some points. We talked about it before the game. We can’t turn it over. They are dynamic in transition and you’ve really got to pay attention to the puck,” added the 2006 Stanley Cup Champion coach of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Today was a good measuring stick for the Caps by beating a hungry Flyers team but now the stakes increase with tougher opponents for Washington. The Caps will face the 2008 Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night at the Verizon Center and then travel to Pittsburgh to take on the 2009 Stanley Cup Champion Penguins.

The Caps went into Philadelphia tonight to take on the Flyers and new coach Peter Laviolette, who replaced the fired John Stevens on Friday, in what appeared to be a tall order but after Flyers Daniel Carcillo sucker punched Matt Bradley, Washington scored three power play goals on a nine minute advantage and won easily 8-2. Jose Theodore made 34 saves, including 12 in the first period, en route to his second straight very good outing and is now 7-3-4 on the season. Washington is now 18-5-6 overall and first in the Eastern Conference as the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Chicago Blackhawks in OT at Mellon Arena tonight (Sidney Crosby did not play due a groin injury).

Here is the period by period analysis followed by the post game recap and analysis:

End of 1st period: Caps 3, Flyers 1

For the 22nd time in 29 games this season Washington scored first as the line of Brendan Morrison, Eric Fehr, and Tomas Fleischmann tallied on a nice passing play with #14 beating Emery on the ice inside the right post. The line almost scored again shortly thereafter but Morrison’s stick was tied up in front when it appeared he had alot of net to shoot at. Nicklas Backstrom, playing with Alex Semin and Brooks Laich, hit the post after the line was guilty of over passing on their first few shifts.

Theodore came up large shortly thereafter after he and Mike Green miscommunicated on a dump in and when #52 overskated the puck behind the net, #60 stopped Scott Hartnell from in close. The Flyers though would rally back to tie it as the Backstrom line was on with Tom Poti and Milan Jurcina and when #3 did not tie up Mika Pyorala in front he put in a rebound. Poti, in his first game back from injury, needs to be stronger in front and not let fourth line guys get easy goals like that.

The Caps then received a 9 minute power play when Daniel Carcillo reacted to a clean hit by Matt Bradley in the neutral zone by cross checking him twice and then sucker punching Brads in the face to knock #10 out and likely done for the game. Total cheap shot by Carcillo and he should get suspended big time for that one.

But Washington would make the Flyers pay for the thuggery as Fleischmann scored his second of the night in the slot on a wrister and 20 seconds later it was Green beating Emery top shelf. The Caps have 3:33 of power play time left heading into period two. For those who were confused as to why a Flyer did not come out of the box after the first goal, it is because a major penalty is always served first before any minors called on a player.

End of 2nd period: Caps 7, Flyers 1

Washington made it three goals on the Carcillo sucker punch/bonehead move nine minute power play as Laich scored from Green and Backstrom.

Why does Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau want Karl Alzner up full time with the big club? All you had to do was watch Alzner take the physical Hartnell off the puck easily in the right wing corner of Washington’s own zone and then make a smart pass to get the puck going the other way. Hartnell typically owns the Caps but King Karl handled him perfectly there. #27 isn’t flashy but he is so solid in his end. Right after that, King Karl took a hooking penalty to put the Flyers on the power play. Washington would kill the penalty fairly easily with Theo making some nice saves and then the Caps penalty killers did a great job of clearing the rebounds. When Alzner came out of the box and swiped the puck from a Flyer that allowed Chris Clark to go in on Emery and beat him with a wrister to make it 5-1. Super play by Alzner and Clark there. That ended Emery’s night and it brought in Brian Boucher. Did I say that Alzner should stay up in DC? Salary cap is the only reason he would be sent back down because he clearly is an NHLer.

The Caps then pushed it to 6-1 as Semin made a really good offensive zone play by hitting a wide open Jurcina at the point, #23 then slid it to Poti, who fired it on net and with Laich screening Boucher in front Backstrom tapped it in. The rout continued as Semin and Backstrom set up a late charging Green for his second of the night on a wrister to make it 7-1.

End of 3rd Period: Caps 8, Flyers 2

Philadelphia finally scored after six straight Washington tallies as Hartnell was all alone in the slot after Poti had lost his stick causing the Caps to run around out of position in their own end (Alexandre Giroux was busy trying to give his stick to #3). Hartnell then took a slash and that put the Caps back on the power play and Coach Bruce Boudreau gave Dave Steckel a chance on the man advantage to break his goal-less season. Backstrom and Green then set him up with some nice passes allowing #39 to tap it in at the left post for a much needed tally for the hard working face-off wizard. Of note is that Green did not play the last 6 plus minutes of this one while Backstrom and Semin did not play the last five as Boudreau was likely resting his guys during a stretch of five games in eight nights.

Here is the post game analysis:

Wow, this was easily one of the most enjoyable Caps regular season road games ever against the Flyers. Washington did a great job of weathering the early storm and, to be honest, I thought Philly would come out stronger but that early Flash goal seemed to take the wind out of their sails. It was good to see the power play, which went 4 for 6 on the night, take advantage of a galactically stupid play by Carcillo (Comcast’s Alan May called him a moron after the game). Washington had a nine minute power play last year in Calgary, after Tyler Sloan was jumped by Rene Bourque, and did not score. Personally, I think the league should suspend #13 at least 3 games for that total sucker punch, especially if Bradley has a concussion. There is no place in the league for that stuff.

Again, as mentioned above, Alzner belongs in the NHL and I would hate to see him sent back down to the Hershey Bears because he clearly belongs with Washington. The Caps currently have a five game winning streak and it corresponds to when #27 was called up. King Karl is a stabilizing force on the back line and his break out passes are outstanding. Hopefully GM George McPhee can find salary cap room to keep him up (if only Nylander would take the KHL deal that is reportedly on the table right now).

If this version of Semin (2 assists) shows up game in and game out the Caps are going to be hard to beat once Alexander Ovechkin comes back on Monday. After a few bad decisions early in this contest he was superb again playing with Backstrom (1 goal, 4 assists), who was also outstanding for the fifth straight game.

Theodore was very good at making the big save when needed, especially at the start of the nine minute power play when he denied Jeff Carter on a two on one rush. I expect Boudreau to just alternate goalies for the foreseeable future, especially during this five game in eight night stretch. I sure hope #60 can stay focused because Varlamov has clearly elevated his game giving the Caps a great duo right now.

Next up for Washington is Tampa Bay on Monday night in the Sunshine State.

Heading into Tuesday night’s Caps-Flyers game at the Verizon Center I was anticipating a raucous arena and an incredible amount of intensity from the Washington Capitals in a contest that figured to be competed at a playoff-like level. However, for about 35 minutes it was a very quiet building and the Caps were struggling to control the play and more importantly, get the puck by Philadelphia goalie Ray Emery.  In fact, after defenseman Braydon Coburn scored the Flyers second goal of the game to put the Broad Street Bullies up 2-0 immediately after Washington had failed to score on a 101 second five on three advantage, things looked bleak for the boys in the red sweaters.

But then the Caps got a bit of a lucky bounce on a Jeff Schultz dump in and Nicklas Backstrom (1 goal, 3 assists) set up Alexander Ovechkin (2 goals) in the slot and the Great #8 buried the puck by Emery to suddenly give the Caps and the Verizon Center life. Then Backstrom scored on a one-timer off of a perfect pass from Alexander Semin (1 goal, 2 assists) on the power play to tie the game just over two minutes later at 18:12 of the second period. The Caps power play had been in a major drought (0 for 14) but Keith Aucoin made a good play on the boards to get Semin the puck to start the whole scoring sequence. Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau credited Aucoin (1 assist), who was called up from Hershey last week due to injuries, with sparking things for Washington with the man advantage.

“It was really important [to end the drought] and Keith Aucoin was the catalyst for the whole thing and that is why he leads the league in the American League. He might not have the size or anything else but he sure knows what to do with the puck when he gets it,” said Boudreau.

Washington then scored the winning tally 5:24 into the third period and even though Boudreau called the goal “lucky” I say that only a player with the talent and skill of Semin could have pulled that maneuver off. Semin, after a nice breakout feed from defenseman Mike Green (1 assist and +3 overall), skated across the blue line down the left wing and started looking at a streaking Backstrom down the middle of the ice seemingly tipping everyone off that he was going to get the puck to #19 down the slot. Then #28 let go of a laser quick snap shot that fooled Emery and everyone else and just like that it was 3-2 Caps and the sea of red went nuts at the “Phone Booth.”

After the Caps killed off a Mike Knuble hooking penalty and a Flyers onslaught (Philly had 20 shots on goal in the third period), the Great #8 sealed this game with his NHL leading 11th goal of the season into an empty net.

Here are some thoughts, notes, and quotes from the win over the Flyers, which has to taste nice for Caps fans:

• Jose Theodore (game’s #1 star) was phenomenal in goal on Tuesday night stopping 41 of 43 shots including a penalty shot by Darroll Powe when Caps defenseman Tom Poti was called for tripping him on a clear breakaway. I thought that Poti hit the puck before getting Powe’s skate but in fairness to the officials, they have a split second to make that call and I had the luxury of seeing a couple of replays. Powe skated in and fired a shot into Theo’s pads once again sending the Capitals fans into jubilee. As I mentioned after the Caps win over the Islanders on Saturday night, #60 has seized the #1 goalie job with a vengeance. Jose also said the Caps played tonight with an edge.
  • “It seemed that after [Ovechkin's first goal] everyone got going and we wanted to win really bad,” said Theodore.

• This was the fifth win in a row for the Caps and they are now 7-2-2 overall. Tonight’s game was the first of 4 in 6 nights.
  • “We always have a thing, the first game of the week is the most important. I always like the baseball analogy it is like a doubleheader and winning the first game is very important so we knew, especially in a big week like this where it is the most games we’ve played this season in one week, that it would be great, against a good team, to start off really well. It was well earned but I hope it didn’t take too much out of us that we don’t have enough left in the tank for the next three,” said Boudreau.

• Aucoin logged 10:29 of ice time and he is making a difference being a spark plug for the Caps.
  • “He is instant energy, I can identify with him so well, I think, because that is pretty well what I was when I played, a full time minor league guy and when you get the chance to get in the NHL you just go, go, go. He is as smart as any NHLer, he just doesn’t have the physical attributes that a lot of them do. That is why he was overlooked, a division three player, and coming out he is a self made player. Those kind of guys are driven. When we played against him when he was in Albany [AHL] in the playoffs, even though we [Hershey] won in five games, everytime he was on the ice he was a threat and I thought he was so much better than I originally thought, he is a good player,” added Boudreau who was clearly enthusiastic to talk about #20 and his contribution to the Caps.

• As advertised heading into Tuesday’s contest, the Flyers had a very good power play operating at over 25% efficiency and they took advantage of two lazy penalties (hooks by Brendan Morrison and Tyler Sloan in non-threatening areas) to get two goals with the man advantage. Overall the Flyers were 2 for 5 on the power play.
  • “Well I’m happy with the effort but we can’t be satisfied with what’s going on. We’re not scoring goals right now. We’re getting a lot of chances but we got to do more. We got to dig in around the net. We got to find a way to get those pucks in the net. And we got to start winning these tight games,” said Flyers Coach John Stevens, whose club dropped to 5-4-1.

• The Caps won for the second straight game after trailing 2-0 and they have fallen behind by two only twice this season and have responded with goals 2:18 and 1:39 later. Backstrom talked about the confidence the team gains from wins like the last coupl.
  • “It means a lot. Last season I think we did it a couple of times too. I don’t know what happened, we were down 2-0 and it just turned around….You can’t panic, it is just two goals, you know it is half of the game left, so you keep working and hopefully something good happens, like tonight,” said Backstrom, who now has 3 goals and 12 assists in 11 games this season.

• Washington was better in the face-off department tonight going 37-32. Dave Steckel was 16-11 but Backstrom was only 6-10. I spoke with #19 afterwards about the advantage, from the dot, that he receives at home (the home team player gets to put his stick down second).
  • “I think it is a lot. You have the advantage of seeing how [your opponent] puts his stick down first and I get to go after him so that is a good thing, especially when you’ve been struggling,” said Backstrom, who is winning only about 40% of his face-offs this season.

Next up for Washington is the Thrashers, who lost star forward Ilya Kovalchuk for at least 4 weeks due to a broken foot, in Atlanta on Thursday. The Caps return home on Friday night against the Islanders and then face the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday afternoon at 5pm at the Verizon Center.

You can bet the Verizon Center will be  ”Rocking and Red” on Tuesday night as the vaunted and despised Philadelphia Flyers come to town for a 7pm tilt (shown in HD on VERSUS). The Caps look to avenge a 6-5 OT loss suffered back on October 6th when Danny Briere scored the game winner in Philadelphia. You can sum up this contest in one sentence:

These two teams do not like each other!

The Caps are off to a 6-2-2 start and are in first place in the Southeast Division while the Flyers are 5-3-1 but in 4th place in the very tough Atlantic Division.

Washington will get forward Alexander Semin back (illness/soreness) on Tuesday night after he missed the past two games and this should help a struggling Capitals power play that is 20th in the NHL at only 16.7%. The Caps were 2nd overall in the league last season, scoring at a 25.2% clip. Jose Theodore had a very strong game against the Islanders on Saturday night so I expect Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau to have #60 in net. Philly will likely go with Ray Emery.

The key for Washington will be to stay out of the penalty box and prevent the Flyers power play, which is ranked 8th overall at 25% efficiency, from deciding the outcome. Philadelphia is led by star forwards Mike Richards (6 goals, 4 assists) and Jeff Carter (4 goals, 6 assists) up front and they have superstar defenseman Chris Pronger (2 goals, 6 assists) on the back line along with Kimmo Timonen and Braydon Coburn. Timonen and Coburn, who were coach John Stevens go-to pairing  on defense last season, are a surprising -7 and -8, respectively.

This should be a fun game to watch and if you are interested in a live chat, former Capitals forward Kevin “Killer” Kaminski will be on-line here: