GAME 11 RECAP: Report of Capitals Demise Greatly Exaggerated

THE RESULT:  The Caps have been waiting for a game like this.
Shaking off a sluggish first period, the Washington Capitals scored six times in the second stanza, en route to routing the Calgary Flames 7-2, before 19,289 in the Saddledome on Hockey Night in Canada.
The Caps (7-4-0-14) shook the rust off their power play, scoring three straight man-advantage goals, erasing a 2-0 first period

GAME 10 RECAP: Capitals Not Feeling Minnesota

"You can't play ten minutes in this league and hope to win a game." Coach Bruce Boudreau, on his team's performance in a 2-1 loss to the Wild.
THE RESULT:  One team looked rested, in the middle of a five-game homestand.  They had a game plan; forcing shots to the outside, clogging up the neutral zone, and relying on a steady if unspectacular goalie.
The other team looked like they played the

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 10: Caps Prepare for Wild Game in Minnesota

Washington Capitals (6-3-0-12, 2nd SE) v. Minnesota Wild (3-3-2-8, 4th NW)8:00 pm EST, Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul, MN_____________________________________________________________
The Washington Capitals travel to the Land o'Lakes to face the Minnesota Wild in the middle game of a three-game road trip, in a building where Washington is 0-5-0 all-time.
Tonight's match-up to watch is the Caps

GAME 9 RECAP: Neuvirth Dominates Carolina in Complete Team Effort

THE RESULT:  Michal Neuvirth was stellar in net and Nicklas Backstrom broke out with two goals, leading the Washington Capitals to a 3-0 shutout over the Carolina Hurricanes in their home opener, before 18,680 at the RBC Center in Raleigh.
Matt Hendricks also chipped in with his first goal as a Capital to kick the scoring off in the first period.

It was the Capitals most complete game of the

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 9: Three-Game Roadie Starts in Carolina

Washington Capitals (5-3-0-10, 2nd SE) v. Carolina Hurricanes (4-3-0-8, 3rd SE)7:00 pm  RBC Center, Raleigh, NC_______________________________________________________
The Caps start a four-day, three-game road trip with the first game of a six-game season series with division rival Carolina tonight from Raleigh.  Surprisingly, it's Carolina's home opener, as the Hurricanes started the season

GAME 8 RECAP: Semin Tricks Thrash, Flash Treats Fans to 4-3 OT Win

"Any kind of win would have been the kind of win we needed." -- Bruce Boudreau, on 4-3 overtime win.


Caps celerate 4-3 overtime win over Atlanta at Verizon Center (C. Nichols/Caps News Network)
THE RESULT:  It wasn't over until it was over, but the Washington Capitals ended a two-game losing streak when Tomas Fleischmann's backhander hit the back of the Atlanta Thrashers' goal 1:37 into

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 8: Reinforcements Called Up for Atlanta

Atlanta Thrashers (3-3-0-6, 3rd SE) v. Washington Captials (4-3-0-8, 2nd SE)7:00 pm, Verizon Center, Washington DC_______________________________________________________
After home and home losses to the Boston Bruins this week, the Washington Capitals look to get back on the right track against a young and improving Atlanta Thrashers squad. 
Washington has won seven straight games against

Perrault, Beagle Recalled from Hershey

According to the notes section in this Hershey Bears press release, the Washington Capitals have recalled centers Matthieu Perrault and Jay Beagle from AHL Hershey.  Both players were scratched tonight from the Bears' game with Wilkes-Barre, a 3-2 loss.
There has been no word from the Capitals yet with any corresponding moves, but it's no secret the Caps have struggled down the middle so far this

Centers of Attention

The Washington Capitals are struggling offensively right now.  They sit exactly middle-of-the-pack (15th) in the NHL in goals per game at 2.71, and if you factor out a seven-goal outburst in the home opener, well, the struggles are even more amplified.
One of the Caps biggest off-season concerns has now turned into a regular season nightmare:  center play.  Nicklas Backstrom is off to a fairly

GAME 7 RECAP: Second Period Disaster Dooms Caps

"We had lots of chances to score.  We just didn't."  Coach Bruce Boudreau in his post-game remarks.
THE RESULT:  The Washington Capitals offense has been struggling all season long, and those problems continued Thursday night, as Tim Thomas and the Boston Bruins dominated the Caps for the second time in three nights, winning 4-1 before a capacity crowd of 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden for their

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 7: On the Road in Boston

Washington Capitals (4-2-0-8, 2nd SE) v. Boston Bruins (3-1-0-6 3rd NE)7:00 pm, TD Banknorth Garden, Boston, MA_________________________________________________________
The Washington Capitals travel to Boston to complete their early season home-and-home against the Bruins in their home opener.  Over the past three weeks, Boston has traveled from Northern Ireland to the Czech Republic to Newark,

GAME 6 RECAP: Caps Can't Click Against Bruins, Fall 3-1

THE RESULT:  Well, it finally caught up to them.
The Washington Capitals played hard most of the night, but still not particularly well.  They had very little cohesion in their offensive attack:  missing passes, having trouble digging pucks off the boards and out of the corners, and generally losing physical battles all night to the bigger, stronger Boston Bruins.
Unlike the four previous games

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 6: Something Bruin in D.C.

Boston Bruins (2-1-0-4, 3rd NE) v. Washington Capitals (4-1-0-8, 1st SE)7:30 pm, Verizon Center, Washington, D.C._________________________________________________________
It hasn't been pretty much of the time, but the Washington Capitals ride a four-game winning streak into tonight's game against the Boston Bruins, winners of two of their first three games of the young season.
Boston opened

Caps Party at Six Flags

Check out our pictures from the Caps Season Ticket Holder Party at Six Flags over at Off the Ice.

GAME 5 RECAP: Caps Commit Highway Robbery in Music City

THE RESULT:  Well, that was fun, eh?
For the first 40 minutes of Saturday night's game, the Washington Capitals flat-out stunk.  They took a ton of penalties, couldn't get out of their own end, were careless with the puck and generally outplayed by a hungrier team.
Fortunately for the Caps, Michal Neuvirth was again at the very top of his game and the penalty kill unit continued its dominance,

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 5: Caps Face Hungry Predators in Music City

Washington Capitals (3-1-0-6, 2nd SE) v. Nashville Predators (3-0-0-6, 1st CNT)8:00 pm EST, Sommet Center, Nashville____________________________________________________
Despite all the hand-wringing and gnashing of teeth in the Nation's Capital about the ineffective power play, the Washington Capitals travel to Nashville with a 3-1 record, courtesy of three straight home wins last week after an

GAME 4 RECAP: Late Goal (and Neuvirth) Lift Listless Caps Over Isles 2-1

THE RESULT:  Let's make no mistake about tonight's 2-1 win:  If the Washington Capitals were playing a better, healthier team than the New York Islanders they probably would have faced a different result.
As it was, Alex Ovechkin scored once and had a big blast from just inside the blue line redirected by Nicklas Backstrom for the game winner, and the Caps (3-1-0) escaped with their third

CAPS GAME NIGHT, GAME 4: Islanders Limp into D.C. Against Ailing Caps

New York Islanders (1-0-1-3, 2nd ATL) v. Washington Capitals (2-1-0-4, 2nd SE)7:00 pm Verizon Center, Washington, DC_____________________________________________________________
The New York Islanders come to Verizon Center for the first of two trips to the Nation's Capital tonight.  They won't return unitl Mar. 1.  Both teams limp into this one, with New York missing their best player, C John

Injury Updates from Practice

There were several bits of injury-related news to come out of today's practice.
First, and apparently most serious:  Marcus Johansson is "week-to-week" with a lower-body injury, believed to be a foot injury after blocking a shot in last night's 3-2 win over Ottawa.  Coach Bruce Boudreau indicated that Johansson would "definitely be out for the weekend."
Johansson, the just-turned 20-year old

GAME 3 RECAP: Ovechkin Sneaks One Through LeClaire for Game-Winner

THE RESULT:  Up until 31.1 seconds remaining in overtime, Pascal LeClaire, the Ottawa Senators' goalie, had played a terrific game.  He'd made several quality saves in a close, tense contest.
But with just half a minute left, Alex Ovechkin took a pass from John Carlson, broke in on the right wing, gave a quick feint that defenseman Chris Phillips bit on, and sent a low, not terribly hard shot

GAME 2 RECAP: Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting

THE RESULT:  The Washington Capitals, who were outworked and outplayed in the season opener Friday night in Atlanta, shook off a listless first period by scoring four unanswered goals in the second period, chasing future Hall of Fame goalie Martin Brodeur and defeating the New Jersey Devils 7-2, before a sellout 18,398 at Verizon Center.
The Caps added two more in the third, and as you might

Caps News Network on Panel at DC Pro Sports Report

The fine folks over at DC Pro Sports Report asked us to participate in a pre-season roundtable, discussing the upcoming season for the Washington Capitals.  We were asked a series of questions, as were a host of respected Caps bloggers.
You can read the complete panel discussion here. 
Some of my answers got truncated for space issues on the panel, so below are my complete answers (in bold) to

PRE-SEASON GAME 5 RE-CAP: Fehr Scores Twice in 5-3 Win Over Columbus

THE RESULT:  Eric Fehr had two goals and an assist, Alex Ovechkin had three assists and Mike Green had two helpers, and the Washington Capitals ran their pre-season record to 5-0 with a 5-3 win over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets before an announced 17,496 at noticably chilly Verizon Center.
Brooks Laich, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin added goals for the Caps.
The game was chippy from