Game 38 Review: Caps Exorsize Demons in Buffalo

Coach Bruce Boudreau's stated message before Tuesday night's game in Buffalo was simple: To be considered an elite team you have to win on the road in the tough buildings. And it does not get any tougher for the Caps than Buffalo's HSBC Arena, where they had lost seven of their last eight games.His troops responded to the message, scoring early and holding down a mostly inept Buffalo offense

Ovechkin Trails Badly in All-Star Voting

Reigning Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin, with 25 goals and 24 assists, third in the league in points and the only player in the top 15 in both goals and assists, currently ranks sixth among forward in fan voting for the NHL All-Star team.Ovechkin, with 436,000+ votes, trail Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (both over 1,270,000 votes) and a trio of Canadiens (Alexi Kovalev, Saku Koivu and Alex

Game 38 Preview: Caps at Buffalo Sabres

The Washington Capitals (23-11-3-49, first in Southeast) travel to upstate New York to visit the Buffalo Sabres (17-14-5, third in Northeast) at 7:00 PM from the HSBC Arena.The Caps are one of the league's hottest teams in December having won 10 of their last 12 games, including Sunday night's dispatching of Toronto, 4-1, before a packed house. The sellout crowd was also treated to the retirement

Capitals Retire Mike Gartner's Number 11

In a moving tribute last night, the Washington Capitals raised Mike Gartner's number 11 to the Verizon Center rafters, to hang in perpetuity with the #7 of Yvon Labre, #5 of Rod Langway and #32 of Dale Hunter.The ceremony did not have a formal emcee. Rather, two men with intimate knowledge of the speedy right winger, teammate and business partner Wes Jarvis and Caps' President Dick Patrick,

Game 37 Review: Laich Leads Caps Past Leafs 4-1

As December crawls to a close, the Washington Capitals (23-11-3-49) find themselves inching closer to the top of the NHL's Eastern Conference lead. The Caps have been one of the hottest teams in the league, winning 10 of their last 12 games.With their 4-1 win last night over the Toronto Maple Leafs (14-6-6-34 fourth in Northeast), Washington extended their Southeast Division lead to ten points

Photos and Notes from Saturday's Practice

We attended Saturday's practice at Kettler Iceplex.Brent Johnson practiced for a little while but still looked slow from his head cold and hip strain.Alexander Semin skated for a while, but did not take part in drills.Brain Pothier practiced hard for quite a while by himself in full gear. He's got a ways to go, but he's making practice.Mike Green and Jeff Schultz both practiced in full.Please

Game 36 Review: Ovie Shows Off in 3-2 Win Over Buffalo

One of the appeals of professional sports is that every time you go to the arena, field or court, you might see something you've never seen before in your life. Alex Ovechkin's game-winning goal in the third period was one of those moments.Defenseman Bryan Helmer pushed the puck along the boards where Ovechkin collected it. The reigning NHL MVP deked defenseman Henrik Tallinder, then while

Game 36 Preview: Caps Host Buffalo Sabres

The Washington Capitals (21-11-3-45, first in Southeast) host the Buffalo Sabres (16-13-5-37, third in Northeast) at 7:00 PM from Verizon Center.The Capitals enter play tonight winners of nine of their last 11 games, including Tuesday's come-from-behind 5-4 OT win over the New York Rangers. Down 4-0, the Caps completed the comeback with the overtime winner from Shaone Morrisonn, the defenseman's

Game 35 Review: OT Goal Completes Stunning Comeback

I won't have a full review today since a) I'm on vacation; b) I'm on a really lousy hotel internet connection; and c) I didn't see the game.However, from all accounts the Caps played lousy in the beginning, stemming from poor goaltending, the Rangers folded, the Caps scored a bunch of third period goals and got an unlikely hero in OT.Does that sum it up?The most exciting team in hockey? Indeed.If

Game 34 Review: Caps Flattened In Philly 7-1

The Washington Capitals (20-11-3-43, first in Southeast Division) dominated play in the first period, out shooting the Philadelphia Flyers 25-6 in the frame, but were beaten and beat up the rest of the way, falling 7-1 to an inspired Flyers squad.Anterro Niittymaki was superb in that first period for the Flyers (18-8-6, 42, second in Atlantic Division), making several outstanding saves in the

Off-Day Notebook

Simeon Varlamov (2-0-0, 1.50, .953) was sent back to AHL Hershey today. The teams pronounced Jose Theodore fit for action. In a brief interview posted by Capitals Insider, Varlamov was disappointed but resigned: "I'm a little bit disappointed," Varlamov [said, through the interpreter]. "But I was kind of expecting it because they told me in advance that it might happen. Of course, it's not very

Apology Most Profound

It has come to my attention that in the story I posted about last night's win over St. Louis an offensive and very inappropriate word slipped through spell check and ran in my story until just a few moments ago when I made the edit. I can only attribute the mistake to sloppy typing on a late night and an incredibly faulty spell checker, as I run spell check as the last thing I do on every post.To

Game 33 Review: Caps Rally To Kick the Blues 4-2

The Washington Capitals played a largely uninterested, uninteresting game against an inferior opponent until late in the second period when Viktor Kozlov and Tomas Fleischmann scored just 40 seconds apart to spark the Caps to a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues before 18,277 at the Verizon Center.The Caps (20-10-3-43, first in Southeast) have won five in a row, and 20 on the season, the fastest

Game 33 Preview: Caps Host St. Louis Blues

The Washington Capitals (19-10-3-41, first in Southeast) host the St. Louis Blues (12-15-3-27, fifth in Central) at 7:00 PM from Verizon Center. This is the two clubs' only meeting in 2008-09.Both teams have an extensive injury list and both teams like to play an up-tempo game, but that's about all that they have in common these days. Washington has won a season-high four games straight, while

Game 32 Review: Ovechkin Takes Matters Into His Own Hands

With less than eleven seconds remaining in overtime, Alex Ovechkin decided enough was enough. He had watched his team fritter away a 4-2 third period lead and he simply took the game over. After hitting the post just seconds before, Ovechkin made no mistake on his second attempt.His linemate, Niklas Backstrom, kept a bouncing puck in the zone and shot the pass to Ovechkin, who had been

Game 32 Preview: Caps at New York Islanders

The Washington Capitals (18-10-3-39, first in Southeast) take to the road to face the New York Islanders (10-18-2-22, fifth in Atlantic) at 7:00 PM from the Nassau Coliseum.The Caps hit Long Island winners of their last three games, over Boston, Ottawa, and Montreal. They surrendered just one goal in each of the three contests against Northeast Division foes. Starting goalie Brent Johnson

Meet Caps Right Wing Matt Bradley!

Washington Capitals right wing Matt Bradley will share his thoughts on everything happening on and off the ice in a Q&A hosted by the radio voice of the Capitals, Steve Kolbe. Throughout the Q&A, fans will be invited to answer team trivia to win great Caps memorabilia, and Bradley will close the event by signing autographs for all the fans in attendance. WHO: Washington Capitals right wing Matt

Monday's Off-Day Notebook

Tomas Fleischmann, Jose Theodore and Eric Fehr all practiced today. Flash and Fehr will travel and expect to play, Theodore will not.Simeon Varlamov will back up Brent Johnson tomorrow night.Sergei Federov and Tyler Sloan, both of whom left Saturday's win over Montreal, did not practice. Nicklas Backstrom, who left the game with migraine, did practice.Caps prospect Stefan Della Rovere made the

Game 31 Review: Varlamov Leads Caps to Victory Over Habs 2-1

Washington Capitals rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov recorded 32 saves and the Caps got goals from Niklas Backstrom and Michael Nylander to defeat the Montreal Canadiens before 21,273 faithful at Bell Centre.The Caps extend their record to 18-10-3-39, first in the Southeast Division. Montreal is second in the Northeast at 16-8-5-37.Nylander's game winner came with just 3:32 left in the game when he

Game 31 Preview: Caps at Montreal Canadiens

The Washington Capitals (17-10-3-37, first in Southeast) travel to Montreal to face the Canadiens (16-7-5-37, second in Northeast) from Bell Centre at 7:00 PM.The Caps should be flying high after trouncing the Ottawa Senators last evening 5-1, behind another stellar performance from goalie Brent Johnson, who made 34 saves in the effort.Coach Bruce Boudreau announced this morning, however, that he

Caps' Web Producer Dresses For Game

Imagine that you are a paralegal at a law firm and the partner gets sick, leaving you to argue in front of the Supreme Court. Or that you are a flight attendant and the pilot passes out and you have to land the plane.That's how close Brett "Stretch" Leonhardt, a 26-year old website producer for the Washington Capitals, was to appearing in an NHL game. That the Caps completely obliterated the

Game 30 Preview: Caps Host Ottawa Senators

The Washington Capitals (16-10-3-35, first in Southeast) face the Ottawa Senators (10-11-5-25, fifth in Northeast) at 7:00 pm from Verizon Center.The Caps come off a big victory over Northeast-leading Boston Wednesday night, limiting one of the highest scoring teams in the league to just one goal in the 3-1 win. Despite a still-depleted blue line corp, the Caps managed to bottle up Phil Kessel (

Game 29 Review: Johnson Extra-Sharp In Win

Brent Johnson spent several minutes on the ice after doing a partial split to stop a follow-up shot from Chuck Kobasew after thwarting a break-away by Patrice Bergeron. He aggravated his nagging hip injury on the play, and you can't blame coach Bruce Boudreau if he was thinking the worst.But the Washington goalie managed to get back to his skates and stay on, played perhaps his best game of the

Game 29 Preview: Caps Host Boston Bruins

The Washington Capitals (15-10-3-33, first in Southeast) host the Northeast-leading Boston Bruins (19-4-4-42) at 7:00 p.m. from Verizon Center.The Caps have split their last four games, most recently dropping a 3-1 decision to Carolina last Saturday.The injuries are taking their toll on the Capitals and they should be getting some help soon, but the Caps added Tomas Fleischmann to the list of

Game 28 Review: Tired Caps Drop One in Carolina

A less-than-inspired Washington Capitals team, playing twice in less than 24 hours on the road, fell 3-1 to the Carolina Hurricanes on a pair of even-strength late third period goals by the hosts.Washington (15-10-3-33, first place in Southeast) out shot Carolina (13-12-3-29, second place in Southeast) 39-25, but Hurricanes goalie Michael Leighton was up to the task. with 1.2 seconds remaining in

Game 27 Review: Caps Drop Leafs 2-1

The Washington Capitals (15-9-3-33, first in Southeast) defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs (9-12-6-24) in a tight, tense match before 19,416 at Air Canada Centre in Toronto.Caps defenseman Milan Jurcina broke a 1-1 tie at 7:12 of the third period just one minute after Nik Antropov had tied it up one a power play. Toronto lost two players during the game to injury: D Luke Schenn and F Niklas Hagman.