Washington, DC -- The Washington Capitals hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs in front of a Red Rockin' Caps crowd. The weather may have felt like winter, however, it was fall in DC tonight -- The Maple Leafs fell. Caps dominated entire game and won 6-1.
It took less than a minute for Alex Ovechkin to score a goal and start racking up the points. The NHL MVP had a season high five point game. Ovechkin also had a career-high four assists.
After Ovi scored the first goal of the game, Coach Bruce Boudreau thought, "Alex is on tonight."
Mike Knuble and Ovechkin were the fabulous duo. Back-to-back Knuble goals assisted by Ovi. Knuble seems to be back on track with five goals in this last five games and his broken finger is healing nicely.
John Carlson was recalled from Hershey this afternoon and arrived at Verizon Center at 6:30 just in time for warmups. Carlson received a warm reception from the surprised Caps fans when he was announced in the starting lineup. Fans thanked him for his winning OT goal in the gold medal game at the World Junior Championships when Team USA beat Canada.
"It's pretty cool when you get cheered on like that," Carlson said. "It's cool to recognized like that. But you have to make sure to stay focused on the game, so they're still cheering for you after the game, too."
Caps found yet another enforcer--Shaone Morrisonn. With about six minutes left in the game, it appeared that Colton Orr took a cheap shot at Mike Green which left him lying flat on his back and Shaone Morrisonn took up the fight with Orr. Morrisonn ended up with 2 min for instigating, 5 min for fighting and 10 min for misconduct. Orr was only slapped with a 2 min interference call along with 5 min for fighting. Coach Boudreau said during post-game interview that after looking back at video, Orr's hit on Green "didn't look like a vicious check."
"We don't exactly have the toughest team in the world," said Boudreau, but 'this group cares about each other and when one hits one, they hit them all."
Caps have had a season-high 13 penalties twice this year - in each of the last two games.
Per Caps Insider, Jason Chimera will receive an automatic one game suspension because he was whistled for an instigator in the final five minutes of the game. Coach Bruce Boudreau also receives an automatic $10,000 fine because of Chimera's infraction.
Jose Theodore looked sharp in goal and will likely be in goal against Flyers. Coach Boudreau said, "I hope this gets him some confidence. He'll probably start on Sunday afternoon and go again. He's a competitor, a battler. He's done it his whole life being a small goaltender with the awards he won. So it's no surprise to me that he's gone in there and is saying, 'The heck with you guys, 'I'm going to be great.'"
Theodore gave Carlson the Hard Hat. "None of the Canadians were happy with me, it was pretty funny" said a smiling Number 74.
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SCORESHEET1ST PERIOD
00:49 Alex Ovechkin (29), Snap Shot. Assist: Backstrom
17:51 Eric Fehr (12), Slap Shot. Assist: Ovechkin, Chimera
2ND PERIOD
04:03 Mike Knuble (11), Backhand Shot. Assist: Ovechkin, Backstrom
06:48 Power Play - Mike Knuble (12), Wrist Shot. Assist: Ovechkin, Semin
18:37 Power Play - Tomas Kaberle (5), Slap Shot. Assist: Kessel, Stempniak
3RD PERIOD
06:47 Power Play - Tomas Fleischmann (16), Tip-In. Assist: Ovechkin, Green
11:06 Tom Poti (2), Wrist Shot. Assist: Semin, Green
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THREE STARS
1. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 4)
2. M. Knuble - WAS (Goals: 2, Assists: 0)
3. J. Theodore - WAS (Saves: 28, Save Pct: .966)
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