The Washington Capitals stretched their lead for second seed in the Eastern Conference to four points with two games remaining after defeating Southeast Division foe Atlanta last night 4-3. The Caps also beat Atlanta Sunday at home 6-4.

The home-and-home wins give Washington 49 victories and need one win in their last two games to record 50 wins for only the second time in franchise history.

New Jersey lost to Toronto 4-1 at home. It was the Devils seventh loss in nine games.

Simeon Varlamov stopped 29 shots for the win. The Caps got goals from Tomas Fleischmann, Viktor Kozlov, Alexander Semin and Sergei Fedorov, and Alex Ovechkin added two assists to keep pace with Evgeni Malkin, who leads Ovechkin by two points, for the scoring title.

Washington continues it's southeast swing Thursday night at Tampa Bay.

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ed. note: Sorry to cut the review short today. I had my annual eye exam this morning and it's very tough to work on the computer with pupils dilated. I'll have more later when I can see again.

The Washington Capitals entered southern Florida intent on erasing a poor performance against the Atlanta Thrashers the previous evening. After a 19-save performance by Jose Theodore, the Caps (44-22-6-94, first in Southeast, third in East) walked out of BankAmerica Center with a needed 3-0 victory.

The shutout win was Theodore's second of the season, and 28th of his career.

Theodore was strong, but the Caps defense player much better than in recent games, and actually allowed zero shots in the third period. Coach Bruce Boudreau remarked afterward that he'd never been involved in a game where that had happened.

Brooks Laich and Viktor Kozlov scored for the Caps while the game was in doubt. Mike Green added an empty net goal with 1:27 remaining to send the moderate crowd home. John Erskine had assists on both Laich and Kozlov's goals.

Laich's goal was a short-handed goal. His wrist shot beat Tomas Vokoun, honored pregame for his 500th career game, from a short angle.

Alex Ovechkin, the NHL's leading scorer with 49 goals, was held once again without hitting the milestone. He did assist on Green's clincher, as did Alexander Semin.

Florida (34-26-10-78, third in East) lost their fourth straight game and second consecutive home game. The Panthers are among a group of teams fighting for their playoff lives, and trail Carolina by one point for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The Caps continue their five-game road trip Thursday night in Tampa at 7:30 pm.
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SCORESHEET

1ST PERIOD
None

2ND PERIOD
05:46 Short - Brooks Laich (18), Wrist Shot. Assist: Erskine

3RD PERIOD
02:36 Viktor Kozlov (12), Wrist Shot. Assist: Nylander, Erskine
18:33 Mike Green (25), Empty Net. Assist: Semin, Ovechkin
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THREE STARS

1. B. Laich - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
2. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
3. J. Theodore - WAS (Saves: 19, Save Pct: 1.000)

The Washington Capitals overcame a sluggish start and a voracious forechecking effort by the Detroit Red Wings to defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions 4-2 before a sellout crowd at Verizon Center.

Detroit (31-11-7-68) was very strong early in the game, despite missing top line forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holstrom. Washington would make quick counters, but had trouble early sustaining the attack.

But the Caps found themselves tied at the end of the two frames, thanks to another strong goaltending effort by Jose Theodore (27 saves) and goals from Viktor Kozlov (11) and Mike Green (14).

That's when their resident superstar, Alex Ovechkin, took over.

It took Ovie a couple of periods to get his feet under him, but once he did he lit up the scoreboard for two third period goals, lifting the Caps (41-15-4-66) to a big win over one of the best teams in hockey.

Ovechkin's first goal was another of the highlight-reel variety. He originally fumbled a feed from Kozlov at the top of the left circle in front of Detroit netminder Ty Conklin. But the Hart Trophy winner deftly corralled the puck, put it between his own legs and used defenseman Brian Rafalski as a screen to beat Conklin low to the glove side and break the tie.

Just over one minute later, Kirk Maltby took a cross-checking penalty to put the Caps on the power play. Six seconds after Maltby left the ice, Ovechkin banged home the insurance off a feed from Green for his league-leading 33rd goal of the season.

The rest of the third period the Caps found themselves killing penalties, and with time drawing to a close, Detroit skated six-on-four and then five-on-three as Kozlov, Brooks Laich and Tom Poti all took penalties in the last minute and a half. But the penalty killers--and especially Theodore--rose to the occasion and kept the Wings out of the goal.

Ville Leino and Johan Franzen scored the Detroit goals. Leino was making his NHL debut.

The Caps halt a two-game winless spate. Detroit has now lost five straight games.

Washington turns right back around tomorrow to host the Ottawa Senators at 12:30 pm from Verizon Center. It's the first time the Caps have played consecutive afternoon home games since 1996.

The Senators were shut out Friday night at Columbus 1-0. Ottawa is 13th in the Eastern Conference and have lost three of their last five games. One of the two wins was against the Caps in Ottawa, a 3-2 win in the final game before the all-star game.
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SCORESHEET

1ST PERIOD
18:06 Ville Leino (1), Backhand Shot. Assist: Datsyuk
19:03 Viktor Kozlov (11), Tip-In. Assist: Jurcina, Nylander

2ND PERIOD
17:19 Mike Green (14), Wrist Shot. Assist: Backstrom, Fehr
19:10 Power Play - Johan Franzen (22), Backhand Shot. Assist: Filppula, Hudler

3RD PERIOD
12:52 Alex Ovechkin (32), Wrist Shot. Assist: Kozlov, Morrisonn
14:08 Power Play - Alex Ovechkin (33), Wrist Shot. Assist: Backstrom, Green
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THREE STARS

1. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 2, Assists: 0)
2. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 1)
3. T. Fleischmann - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 0
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NOTES

The Capitals finished better than .500 in each of the first four months of the season for the first time in franchise history...Washington's 31-15-4 record through 50 games is the second-best in club history to a 31-12-7 start in 1984-85...The Caps are 31-1-1 when Ovechkin scores...Tom Poti returned to the ice after missing nine games with a groin injury.

Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and assisted on a third, leading the Washington Capitals over the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-3 before 16,975 in snowy western Pennsylvania last night. The Pens also lost three players to injury, including captain and all-star Sidney Crosby, who left late in the game after a collision with Caps forward David Steckel.

The Capitals (28-14-3-59, first in Southeast, second in East) received balanced scoring, as Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist, Niklas Backstrom had three helpers, and Viktor Kozlov, Alexander Semin and Jeff Schultz each added a goal.

After all the talk between the feuding superstars, this game came down to Ovechkin enforcing his will in the third period and dominating the frame. The game was tied at two entering the final 20 minutes, and very quickly into play, last year's MVP showed why he is the pre-eminent player in the game.

On the power play, Ovechkin took a cross-crease pass from Brooks Laich, whacked the first attempt into Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, then collected his own rebound and put the puck past the netminder to break the tie.

The Penguins (21-20-4, fourth in Atlantic, 10th in East) would tie the game briefly again, as Ray Whitney scored his first of the season, but that would be the end of the offensive output for Pittsburgh.

The game winning goal would belong to Tomas Fleischmann, who has goals in four of his last five games and a career-high 15 for the season. On another power play, Ovechkin's shot from the circle bounced off Fleury into the slot, where Fleischmann made a dive to poke the puck past the now out of position netminder.

"There was a puck laying there and open ice," Fleischmann said. "The only way I could reach it was by diving."

Ovechkin put the game out of reach with his second of the night just a few moments later. He skated through the zone drawing Pittsburgh defender towards him, and in an attempt to pass to an open Niklas Backstrom cutting to the net, he puck ricocheted off a Penguin skate and into the back of the net.

The Caps sent Crosby to the dressing room twice during the game. Before being knocked out for good in the third period, Crosby had retreated to the locker room during the first period after falling hard on his right side after tumbling over Kozlov but returned minutes later.

The Penguins also lost defenseman Rob Scuderi (slap shot to the face) and forward Maxime Talbot (undisclosed) during the game.

There were just brief moments of ugliness in this grudge match. Evgeni Malkin drew a two minute interference call for hitting Ovechkin from behind in the first period, and there was a little bit of a shouting match between Ovie and Crosby as the teams retreated after the second period.

The Pittsburgh players did not talk to the media following the game, and the Caps players chose to talk about the team.

"We don't even talk about it," Fleischmann said "It's just the Washington Capitals against the Penguins, that's how it is and we didn't talk about it."

Washington is off for a couple days in preparation for a big meeting with the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins (32-7-4-68) Saturday night at 7:00 pm from Verizon Center. Boston plays at the New York Islanders tonight.

Photo by Getty Images.
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SCORESHEET

1ST PERIOD
05:45 Power Play - Evgeni Malkin (18), Slap Shot. Assist: Crosby, Satan

2ND PERIOD
01:06 Viktor Kozlov (10), Snap Shot. Assist: Backstrom
08:23 Miroslav Satan (13), Wrist Shot. Assist: Talbot, Kennedy
12:40 Alexander Semin (17), Wrist Shot. Assist: Fedorov, Fleischmann

3RD PERIOD
01:48 Power Play - Alex Ovechkin (28), Slap Shot. Assist: Laich, Backstrom
03:12 Ryan Whitney (1), Slap Shot. Assist: Crosby, Jeffrey
08:11 Power Play - Tomas Fleischmann (15), Wrist Shot. Assist: Ovechkin, Backstrom
11:27 Alex Ovechkin (29), Wrist Shot. Assist: Green
18:54 Short - Jeff Schultz (1), Empty Net. Assist: Laich ____________________________________________________
THREE STARS

1. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 2, Assists: 1)
2. N. Backstrom - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 3)
3. S. Crosby - PIT (Goals: 0, Assists: 2)
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NOTES

Ovechkin leads the NHL with 28 goals scored.

Florida General Manager Jaques Martin was also at Mellon Arena last night presumably scouting players.

The power play went 2 for 6, netting its first multi-goal game in eight contests.

Jose Theodore made 33 saves, including all three shots in a shootout, and the Washington Capitals (27-11-3, first in Southeast) defeated the Philadelphia Flyers (21-10-9, second in Atlantic), 2-1 before a playoff-intense capacity crowd at the Verizon Center.

Viktor Kozlov beat Flyers goalie Martin Biron (33 saves) on the first shot in the shootout, and the rest was all Theodore. The resurgent netminder stoned Simon Gagne, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter on successive shots to cement the victory and exact a measure of revenge for the 7-1 shellacking back in December.

The Capitals have not lost since that game, a streak of seven straight. Theodore has been the goalie for six of those games.

All three shooters tried to beat Theodore on low shots to his stick side, but twice he closed the door with his left foot on the post, and on the final shot by Carter--tied with Alex Ovechkin for the league lead in goals with 27--got enough of Carter's five-hole attempt to thwart the talented forward and preserve the win.

The Caps regulation goal came early off the stick of Niklas Backstrom, campaigning for his first all-star birth. His 12th of the season came from a pass from behind the net from Alexander Semin. That marker would stand until the first minute of the third period.

With Michael Nylander off with a weak hooking call, Braydon Coburn's shot from the post was deflected by not one, but two Capitals defenders and snuck behind Theodore.

Washington killed off a 3:30 penalty kill, including 30 seconds of five-on-three, during a back-and-forth second period. Flyers defenseman Ossi Vaananen made a spectacular sliding block, robbing Nylander of his second goal of the season.

The Capitals are now 18-1-1 at home this season, and have two days to rest with Columbus visiting on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.

Photo by Getty Images.

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SCORESHEET

WAS: Backstrom (12) from Semin and Kozlov (1-2:10-PP)

PHI: Coburn (5) from Timonen and Carter (3-0:23-PP)

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THREE STARS

1. J. Theodore - WAS (Saves: 33, Save Pct: .971)

2. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1)

3. M. Biron - PHI (Saves: 33, Save Pct: .971)

___________________________________________

NOTES

The game was delayed several minutes before the shootout as the Flyers bench complained about the snow in the Flyers end and made the Zambonis come back out and resurface the ice.

The Caps maintain their 10-point lead over Carolina in the Southeast Division, and with Boston's loss are just five points behind the Eastern Conference's leaders.

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 any Caps team has reached that mark since the 1992-93 season.

Kozlov had two goals and an assist to lead the Caps offense, but the big story was 20-year old goalie Simeon Varlamov. He made 29 saves, none bigger than the kick save he made against veteran Keith Tkachuk with just under six minutes to play.

It was just Varlamov's second NHL start, and this one came with his father in attendance. Varlamov will probably return to Hershey when Jose Theodore is pronounced fit, but he shown plenty in his two games, saving 61 of 64 shots (.953 save percentage) in two victories.

The win did have a cost, however. Both Alexander Semin and Mike Green left in the third period with injuries, and neither player returned. Reports have Green "tweaking" his sore shoulder, but Semin's discomfort was a direct result of being targeted by a rival player.

Blues winger David Backes gave Semin a hard--but legal--check, knocking Semin to the ice. As Semin tried to regain his feet, Backes gave him another two-handed cross-check to the small of the back, roughly the same area Semin had been nursing when he missed 12 games earlier this month. As Semin lay in pain on the ice, Alex Ovechkin came to the defense of his teammate and countryman, levelling Backes, and both teams came together for a scrum.

Remarkably, no penalties were meted out by referee Mike Leggo.

Ovechkin scored the team's fourth goal, his 20th of the season, on a power play just 13 seconds into the third period.

The Caps are off until Saturday afternoon, when they travel to face the Philadelphia Flyers at 1:00 PM from the Wachovia Center. Coach Bruce Boudreau just hopes Semin and Green can make the trip with the rest of the team.
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THREE STARS

1. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 2, Assists: 1)
2. S. Varlamov - WAS (Saves: 29, Save Pct: .935)
3. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)

The Washington Capitals (14-9-3-31, first in Southeast) got goals from five different players and goalie Brent Johnson made 27 saves as the Caps rebounded from a poor display Tuesday to defeat a similarly undermanned New York Islanders (10-13-2-22, fifth in Atlantic) team 5-3 before 18,130 fans at Verizon Center.

The Caps were 3-for-5 on the power play, getting goals from Alex Ovechkin (14), Viktor Kozlov (5) and Eric Fehr (3) with the man advantage. Donald Brashear scored his first goal since last March to break a 2-2 tie in the third period, and Nicklas Backstrom put the exclamation point on the win with an empty net goal with 50 seconds remaining.

Ovechkin finished with a goal and two assists.

Coach Bruce Boudreau preached the necessity of receiving "secondary" scoring after losing to Florida Tuesday night, and he got just what he was looking for from Brashear, who knocked in a rebound of a Karl Alzner shot into the back boards, and from Eric Fehr, who lifted a backhanded rebound past Islanders goalie Joey MacDonald.

The Fehr goal was made possible from Brooks Laich, doing the heavy lifting in front of the net on the power play, another long-time point of emphasis from Boudreau.

The game was full of penalties and both teams had their chances, but Washington held New York to 1-for 8 on the power play. The Caps out shot the Islanders 47-29.

Washington faces-off against the Toronto Maple Leafs (9-10-6) Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 p.m. ET from Air Canada Centre.

Photo courtesy of WahingtonPost.com.

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SCORESHEET

WAS: Ovechkin (14) from Jurcina and Laich (1-11:31-PP); Kozlov (5) from Helmer and Lepisto (1-13:15-PP); Brashear (1) from Alzner and Jurcina (3-6:50); Fehr (3) from Laich and Ovechkin (3-16:14-PP); Backstrom (7) from Ovechkin (3-19:10-EN)

NYI: Streit (6) from Weight and Guerin (1-19:24-PP); Hunter (11) from Sutton (2-13:38)
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THREE STARS

1. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)

2. K. Alzner - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1)

3. D. Brashear - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
__________________________________________________

NOTES

The Islanders were the last Eastern Conference team coach Bruce Boudreau had not earned a victory against.

Ovechkin has 14 goals and 20 assists in 24 games.

Milan Jurcina had a multi-point night, assisting on the Ovechkin and Brashear goals.

Washington -- The Washington Capitals (12-7-3-27, first place in Southeast Division) received three goals from Alexander Ovechkin and were never really threatened by their Southeast Division rival Atlanta Thrashers (8-11-2-18, third place in Southeast), winning easily 5-3.

The Caps played without many of their regular skaters, including their captain, RW Chris Clark, who along with D Jeff Schultz were placed on the Long-Term Injured List before the contest. But no matter, as the Capitals were playing their first home game after a five-game road trip and had a surprising amount of spring in their collective steps.

The team recalled wingers Chris Bourque and Graham Mink and defensemen Sami Lepisto and Karl Alzner, the fifth overall pick in the 2005 entry draft. The youngsters seemed to help the overall level of urgency, and the Caps jumped all over Atlanta in the first period.

Ovechkin started the scoring at 3:29, with a slap shot that handcuffed Thrasher goalie Ondrej Pavelec. It was a power play goal, set up by Sami Lepisto, who slid a perfect point-to-point pass to Ovechkin, who let one blast. Four minutes later, Eric Fehr banged home a pretty tic-tac-toe from Tomas Fleischmann and Michael Nylander.

Bryan Little of Atlanta stemmed the tide just a bit, notching a power play of his own at 12:08, but Ovechkin scored his second of the game with a wrist shot, gathering a rebound shot by Viktor Kozlov. The hat trick was completed less than a minute into the second period, as Poti found the Great Eight in the slot alone, and Ovechkin made no mistake. The competitive portion of the game was complete.

Kozlov scored his third goal of the season in the third period, and Slava Kozlov and Nathan Oystrick both tallied for Atlanta, but the outcome was never in doubt after the hats rained down for last year's Hart Trophy winner.

Washington hosts the Montreal Canadiens (12-5-4-28) Friday night at 7:00 pm ET from Verizon Center.

Photo by AP.

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THREE STARS

1. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 3, Assists: 1)

2. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 2)

3. T. Fleischmann - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 2)

__________________________________________________

SCORESHEET

WAS: Ovechkin (10) from Lepisto and Kozlov (1-3:29-PP); Fehr (2) from Fleischmann and Nylander (1-7:23); Ovechkin (11) from Kozlov and Fleischmann (1-14:01-PP); Ovechkin (12) from Poti and Sloan (2-0:54); Kozlov (3) from Ovechkin (3-1:20)

ATL: Little (10) from Kovalchuk and White (1-7:33); Kozlov (12) from Little and Kovalchuk (2-13:06-PP); Oystrick (1) from White and Schneider (3-12:28)

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NOTES

Ovechkin has points in nine straight games. He has 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in his last 11 games. The hat trick was his first since last March.

Jose Theodore stopped 15 of 18 shots faced.

D Tom Poti missed the second half of the third period. There were no details of possible injury.

Alzner, making his NHL debut, logged the second highest ice time for the game, behind only Ovechkin.

THE CAPS WIN!

The Washington Capitals handed the New Jersey Devils their fourth straight loss. The RED HOT Caps beat the Devils 3-1 with Jose Theodore protecting the net in his first start in nearly two weeks. Jose had a great night and the only puck to get by him against his 32 saves was a late breakaway goal in the third period. Alexander Semin left the game late in the second period with an
undisclosed injury. The team said his status is day-to-day.

SCORING:
The Caps scored first and lead all night. Brooks Laich scored his fourth goal with a power play tip-in goal in the first period assisted by Ovechkin and Green. The last three goals of the night were the fifth goal of the season for each player.

Thomas Fleischmann scored with a snap shot goal assisted by Kozlov and Green in the second period. The other two goals came in the third period with the first of the two by the Devils with a wrist shot goal by Patrik Elias assisted by Gionta and Oduya.

The Caps closed out the night with Alex Ovechkin adding an empty-net goal in the final 20 seconds of the game assisted by Backstrom and Laich.

PENALTIES:
There were only a total of 6 minutes of penalties for the entire game. Fleischmann got 2 minutes for holding, Kozlov got 2 minutes for high-sticking and Vrana from the Devils had 2 minutes for too many men on the ice. There were no penalties in the third period.

MILESTONE REACHED:
Kozlov's assist on Fleischmann's goal was his 500th career point.

THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
1. T. Fleischmann - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
2. J. Theodore - WAS (Saves: 32, Save Pct: .970)
3. P. Elias - NJ (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)

NEXT GAME:
Saturday, November 15th against the very same NJ Devils in NJ which will be the only time this season Washington plays the same opponent in back-to-back games.

According to Capitals Insider, Viktor Kozlov could miss a couple of weeks with an undisclosed injury, but it was apparent he was injured when Canucks' D Rob Davison checked him hard along the boards, then taunted him with two separate stick-checks to the chest and Kozlov did not respond. He skated gingerly off the ice and appeared to be favoring his left knee, after reviewing the highlights.

GM George McPhee addressed the media and made a very short statement:

"We suspect it will be a couple of weeks," McPhee said. "But we'll know more in a couple of days."

Capitals Insider has a number of other bits of pertinent info as well.

So what corresponding move will occur? Will Eric Fehr break the line-up with Federov staying on the blue line? He certainly looked comfortable there last night and raised Jurcina's play a notch, the two penalties notwithstanding. Or will we see Erskine back in the line-up and Feds back up front. Justifiably, neither McPhee nor Bruce Boudreau provided any insight at practice today.