The Washington Capitals needed a game like this.

Before another capacity crowd, the Capitals finally looked like, well, the Capitals, unleashing a 5-0 shutout on the unsuspecting Edmonton Oilers, winning their sixth straight game in the process.  It's the first time since Jan. 14 the Caps have won by more than one goal.

Rookie Braden Holtby, making his tenth NHL start, blanked the worst-in-the-league Oilers on 22 shots.  The quirky rookie, a fan favorite, ran his record to 6-2-2 for the Caps this season.

Alex Ovechkin scored twice, as did Eric Fehr, making his return to the ice after missing 22 games with an injured shoulder.  Alexander Semin also scored, giving him goals in three straight games.

Washington's six-game run matches its longest of the season (Oct. 30-Nov. 11). The Capitals also have won three straight at home, their longest such streak since mid-November.

It was a night of milestones.  In addition to Holtby's first NHL shutout, Ovechkin notched his 600th point on his first goal.  The Great Eight passed Michal Pivonka on the team's all-time list to take sole possession of third in team history, behind Peter Bondra (825) and Mike Gartner (789).

Jason Arnott's assist on the play was his 900th career point, and defenseman Dennis Wideman's assist on Semin's goal was his 200th career point.

Washington went 2-for-5 on the power play, a good sign as the season winds down that maybe, just maybe, the Caps are pulling out of their team-wide scoring doldrums.

The win keeps the Caps (38-20-10, 86) just two points behind Philadelphia (who beat Edmonton Monday night) for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and two points ahead of Tampa Bay for first in the Southeast Division.  The Lightning defeated Chicago Tuesday in a shootout to keep pace with the Caps.

Some people are never happy though.  In the aftermath of the win, among the jubiliation of free wings there were also plenty of comments on Twitter and other message boards that this was "only the Oilers", the team with the fewest points in the league.  But let's not make light of what happened at Verizon Center last night.

The Capitals soundly defeated a lesser opponent that find themselves in the middle of a road trip.  They did it -- at home -- with dynamic scoring, success on the power play, stingy defense and solid goaltending.  It's  recipe that we've seen bits and pieces of this season.  But rarely -- if ever -- have we seen the complete package.

Regardless of the opponent, the Oilers are still an NHL team, and nothing comes easy in this league.

The Caps are now 8-2 in their last ten games, and appear to be on a serious roll with 14 games left until the playoffs.  There's room for improvement, but all the one-goal wins look conspicuously like "Playoff Hockey".

It's taken a while for the Caps to adjust to playing a more defensively-oriented game.  Having now found success with that style, if they can add few of the elements that made them the highest scoring team in the league last season they could still fulfill the destiny that so many Caps fans, the owner, and the players themselves assumed they would when they reported for training camp in September.

And maybe even the doubters will enjoy it finally.

CAPS NEWS NETWORK THREE STARS

3. Eric Fehr.  Welcome back Fehrsie.  Two goals, giving this offense a boost it needed with Nick Backstrom sidelined.

2. Alex Ovechkin.  Two goals, including a power play marker from the post.  Sweet.

1. Braden Holtby.  We have a rule around here: Shut out = First Star.  It's a rule.

CAPS NOTES:  Mike Green (head/ear) was placed on LTIR and is not eligible to return until March 22.

Nicklas Backstrom (hand) missed the contest, breaking his consecutive games played streak at 341.

Washington is 32-0-3 when scoring at least three goals.

"The worst home loss I've been associated with." Coach Bruce Boudreau.

THE RESULT:  Just as in their last meeting between these two teams, the New York Rangers dominated the Washington Capitals in all facets of the game and handed the home team its worst loss in its own building since November of 2006, a 6-0 shutout that wasn't even as close as the score.

The Caps essentially gave up on this game just moments before the Rangers first tally at 5:45 of the first period.

The Rangers had control of the puck and were cycling effectively against the Mike Green/John Erskine pairing, and a forward line of Brooks Laich, Mathieu Perreault and Boyd Gordon.  The puck came behind the net and Green clearly cross-checked Derek Stepan and the Rangers rookie went into the boards helmet first.

Green dug the puck out to Gordon, but Gordon was unable to clear and the Rangers defensemen fed the puck back into the same corner where Green went to retrieve, rather timidly, I might add.  Stepan, angry from the cross-check and probably frustrated with the no-call, checked Green high and hit Green with a shoulder or elbow.

You can watch the play here.

Green went down in a pile and was very slow to get up.  At that point, with the Caps down a man, the Rangers collected the puck and fed a wide open Steve Eminger at the far point, who sent a blast that ricocheted off Brooks Laich and past Michal Neuvirth for the only goal the Rangers would need.

Green left the game and did not return. The team has listed him as "day-to-day" at this point pending further evaluation and he will not accompany the team to Long island for the game with the Islanders Saturday. Green was making his return after missing the road trip battling "inner ear trauma" stemming from taking a puck to the side of the head against Pittsburgh two weeks ago.

He managed to last just 5:45 into the first period.

If you watched the video, pause it at the 23 second mark, right after the goal and look at the reaction the five Caps players in the frame had. It's all you need to know about how the rest of the game went.

The Capitals were already defeated.  I won't bore you with descriptions of the rest of New York's goals.

"Our fans deserve better," a subdued coach Bruce Boudreau said in his press conference.  "We deserve to get booed. It’s not fun when you come home and you’ve got the best fans in the world and you play like that."

"It’s just not acceptable and it’s embarrassing."

But it's all too common-place now for this team.

It's almost impossible to fathom, but the Caps have lost their last three games at Verizon Center by a combined score of 12-1.  Boudreau's right about it being embarrassing.

And with just 20 games left in the regular season, can anything be done about it?

The team pulled six points from a long five-game road trip, came home to two days off, and then went out and laid a stinker like that last night at home?  There are no excuses for the level of effort and energy exhibited by the vast majority of players wearing a red sweater last night.

With the trade deadline approaching on Monday, it's impossible to guess what GM George McPhee might do.  But you can be sure that he was not pleased with the performance of the players that are currently on the roster.

He'd be just one of many at this point.

NEXT GAME:  Saturday against the New York Islanders from Nassau County Coloseum at 7:00 pm.

CAPS NEWS NETWORK THREE STARS

3. John Erskine.  Five hits and only on the ice for the goal where Green got hurt.

2. Scott Hannan.  He's an anchor for the Caps on the blue line.  Second most minutes and was on the ice for just one of the four even strength goals for New York.

1. Alex Ovechkin.  Eight shots on goal, another nine blocked or missed.  Six hits.  Was really involved in this game.

CAPS NOTES:  John Carlson and Karl Alzner did not distinguish themselves last night.  Carlson was minus-3 and Alzner minus-2.

Speaking of bad games, Boyd Gordon was on the ice for the first four Rangers goals.

Alexander Semin somehow was credited with four hits.

Nick Backstrom, healing from a fracture in his thumb, took just one faceoff all night. The Caps finished at 51 percent for the evening.

The power play went 0-for-5 and penalty kill was just 2-for-4.

The Washington Capitals went into Columbus looking to build off Friday night's shut out victory over Montreal. What they found was a hockey team more desperate than they were, as Rick Nash scored twice -- once short handed -- and rookie goalie Steve Mason pitched a 26 save shut out of his own dealing Washington a 3-0 loss.

To make matters worse, Washington (13-8-3, first in Southeast) may have lost the services of rookie defenseman Karl Alzner for a while, himself a recent injury replacement. He was slammed into the side boards by Derick Brassard in the second period chasing after a loose puck and came up from the hit hanging his left arm at his side and did not play in the third period.

Washington was out shot 15-8 in the first period and were out-played and out-hustled from the very beginning. Goalie Brent Johnson survived the first period allowing just one goal, a slap shot from Raffi Torres, his first goal of the season. It's the only goal Mason would need.

Mason, 20, now owns a 5-2-0-1 record this season, making it difficult for coach Ken Hitchcock to return the player to the minors when their regular goalies get healthy.

The shut out sees Alex Ovechkin's 10-game points streak come to an end. He had scored 11 goals and 11 assists in those 10 games.

Columbus (10-13-3-23) captain Rick Nash had no such problems. He snapped a wrist shot past Johnson at 14:44 of the second period, and put the exclamation point on the victory with a short handed back-hander past Johnson mid-way through the third. It was goals 11 and 12 for Nash this season.

The Capitals now have a couple days to get players healthy. They once again played without a host of players, including October's player of the month Alexander Semin, veteran Sergei Federov, and blue line mainstays Mike Green, Tom Poti among others.

Washington hosts the Florida Panthers Tuesday, December 2 at 7:00 p.m. from Verizon Center.

Photo by AP.
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SCORESHEET

WAS: None.
COL: Torres (1) from Modin and Methot (1-8:01); Nash (11) from Umberger and Huselius (2-14:44); Nash (12) unassisted (3-13:37-SH)
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THREE STARS

1. R. Nash - CLB (Goals: 2, Assists: 0)
2. S. Mason - CLB (Saves: 26, Save Pct: 1.000)
3. J. Hejda - CLB (Goals: 0, Assists: 0)
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NOTES

The Caps are 4-8-2 on the road this season.

Washington's seven-game unbeaten streak against Columbus (6-0-1) was the Capitals' longest against any team.

The Capitals went 8-5-2 for their first winning November since 1999 and with their most wins in the month since getting nine in 1996.