Third Period

Nylander draws a hooking call from Gagne in the slot. Nyls is having a very good game. Power Play at 1:45. The best opportunity comes from Philly, with Theo completely stoning Knuble on the doorstep.

Knuble holds Ovie trying to get through the zone at 7:23. Time for a power play. Not a very organized effort with the extra man. It passes without incident.

Hartnall ties the game at two with a wicked wrist shot after a neutral zone turnover gave the Flyers a 3-on-2. 2-2 at 9:11.

Jeff Carter break the tie less than two minutes later as he corralled a rebound and beat a defenseless Theodore. Time of goal 10:36. 3-2 Flyers.

And now the Caps are just getting sloppy. Aaron Ashram is allowed to skate through the left wing circle, through the crease, let Theo take himself out and then buries it. Ashram schooled Schultz. 4-2 Flyers at 12:30.

I just heard my first E-A-G-L-E-S, Eagles! chant at 14:45. Ugh.

Fehr takes a slash at 17:01, and that ought to about do it. It was a thoroughly interesting game until mid-way through the third. The Caps wish they could have had a couple of the power plays back, I'm sure.

Final Score: Flyers 4, Caps 2
SOG: WAS-34, PHI-36

Second Period

19 seconds in, Hartnall takes a slash, so as the Nylander penalty expires the Caps go straight to the power play. No real scoring opportunities with the extra man.

Mere seconds after Ovie tipped one off the post on a feed by Green, the puck found its was back to him in the slot, and he made no mistake with it. Its his 44th of the season at 4:19. 2-0 Caps.

Jurcina takes a slash at 7:28 that send the stick flying 30 feet. Back to the PK. Again. With 15 seconds left, Semin throws it off the ice over the Flyers bench. Two more minutes to kill.

With six seconds on the first penalty, Claude Giroux buries a pass from Richards behind Theo. Still over 1:40 to kill the second period. 2-1 Caps.

Laich has two nice opportunities--one a breakaway--on the PK. As Semin came out of the box, the Caps rushed the puck and stormed the goal, and with a scrum in front of the net, Matthew Carle tripped Semin in the slot to give the Caps another power play at 11:32. Caps crash the net hard during the ensuing PP, but just can't get one to drop. Very good work by Nylander and Fehr on the second unit.

Brashear was headhunting on the next shift, looking for someone to bury and he got a bad piece of Lupul, although the replay looked like Lupul dove a bit. Anyway, a scrum occurred and Brash was sent off with Hartnall for roughing. Four on four hockey at 14:21!

Theordore gets a roughing call as Hartnall fell into him in the crease at 17:12. Theo did take a little jab at his head with his blocker, but Hartnall made NO effort to avoid slamming into the goalie. More special teams. And another successful kill. PK very effective tonight. They've killed all the 5-on-4's and just gave up the goal on the 5-on-3.

End of the second period, Caps 2-1. SOG: WAS-24, PHI-26.

First Period

Hard to take the National Anthem being used for battle cries.

Upshall gets whistled for dumping Green in the Caps zone. Caps answer with the goal four seconds later. Fedorov won the draw back to Ovie, who didn't get much on the shot, but Backstrom collects and backhands into an open net. 1-0 Caps at 1:48.

Big glove save by Theodore on Knuble skating in all alone on the left wing. Very quick pace to the first period.

Steckel gets a holding call at 9:32. BIG hit by Richards on Poti behind the Caps net. Nice save by Theo on Lupul. Hartnall gets whistled for a retaliation hit on Green. VERY chippy already--lots of big hitting.

And now on the resulting Caps power play, Gagne throws the puck off the ice for a 47 second two-man advantage. Flyers kill the whole power play.

Awesome play by Jurcina to clear the puck out of the goal mouth. Theo makes another quality save seconds later and Erskine knocks Upshall to the ice with a stick to the "midsection" on the cover. Erskine gets two minutes at 15:50. Caps have the two best scoring opportunities on Philly's PP.

Nylander gets his stick up high and goes off for a slash at 18:20. Back to the PK. Outstanding work by the killers at teh end of the period, coupled by a couple of lucky bounces right at the end of the period. 1-0 Caps.

SOG: WAS-7; PHI-12

Pre-game:

It's noticeably cold in the Verizon Center tonight. GM George McPhee spoke with season ticket holders before the game in one of the Caps' "Chalk Talks". He was interestingly candid about dealing with other GMs, some of the prospects in the system, and the possibility of trading at the deadline. I was sort of surprised no one asked him about the trash talking over the weekend and spilling into Monday.

Here are tonight's scratches: PHI--D Kimmo Timmonen, D Lasse Kukkonen; WAS--D Staffan Kronwall.

Antero Niittymaki gets the start against Jose Theodore.

I'll be back with updates as the game goes on and between periods.

The Washington Capitals play in the Southeast Conference, but all their rivals hail from Pennsylvania. The Caps host their other arch-nemesis, the Philadelphia Flyers, at 7:00 pm from Verizon Center, fresh off a 5-2 pasting of their foes from western PA Sunday afternoon on national television.

The Caps (38-17-5-81, first in Southeast), in the middle of a five-game homestand, look to provide a rude welcome to the Flyers, fourth place in the conference and 10 points behind the second place Capitals. Washington trails Boston for the lead by just seven points entering play tonight.

The teams have split their last six meetings and both games this season. Philadelphia routed the Capitals 7-1 at home Dec. 20 in a loss that was every bit as demoralizing as the score would indicate, but the Caps prevailed in a 2-1 shootout win on Jan. 6.

The Flyers are 2-0-1 in their last three trips to the Verizon Center.

Philadelphia won two of three last week, beating the Rangers 5-2 on the road and Buffalo 6-3 at home, before falling to Pittsburgh 5-4 Saturday night. The Caps have won four of their last five games, and remain poised for one more run at the Bruins for top seed in the conference.

Jose Theodore will play a big role in tonight's game. He is 4-1-0 with a 2.02 goals against average in his last five games against Philly, and 4-1-1 with a 2.60 GAA in his last six games. But Philadelphia will bring the heat, having scored 20 goals in its last four games.

In addition, Philly leads the league in short-handed goals with 16. Flyers' captain Mike Richards (23-37-60, plus-23) has seven to lead the NHL, with a shorty in his last three games. Jeff Carter (34-26-50, plus 12) and Simon Gagne (22-31-53, plus-23) each have four short-handed markers.

The Caps' power play leads the Eastern Conference and is third in the league at 24.1 percent, so we should see fireworks when Washington has a man advantage either way. Philly's power play is no slouch either, fourth overall in the NHL, just behind Washington.

The Caps will miss Viktor Kozlov, who will sit out his eighth straight game with a pulled groin. The team hopes he will return to action Thursday night after taking extra work at the pre-game skate this morning. Staffan Kronwall will be a healthy scratch.
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SPECIAL TEAMS

WAS: PP-3rd (24.1%, 59/245); PK-20th (79.8%, 59/292)
PHI: PP-4th (23.3%, 50/215); PK-8th (82.9%, 49/286)
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INJURIES

WAS: RW Viktor Kozlov (Groin-IR); G Brent Johnson (Hip-IR); RW Chris Clark (Wrist-IR); D Brian Pothier (Concussion-IR)

PHI: D Derian Hatcher (Knee-IR); C Daniel Briere (Groin-IR); C Jeff Carter (Flu-Probable)

Check out Cooley's latest blog post. I know it's his brother that does most of the posting, but it's still pretty awesome and going out under Chris' name on the blog. Cooley supports the other home teams. Good for him.

"What I can say about him?" reigning Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin said. "He is a good player, but he talks too much."

"Like it or lump it, that's what he does," Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said about Ovechkin's checking, insinuating dirty play. "Some people like it, some people don't. Personally, I don't like it."

"I play hard. If he wants to do something like hit me again, try to hit me again -- and I'll talk to you guys [about] who plays dirty," Ovechkin said. "That's my game. It's not cheap shots, it's a game moment. But he doesn't like it, it's his problem."

Ah yes, now that we have that settled, we can talk about a hockey game.

The Washington Capitals (38-17-5, first in Southeast) defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins (29-26-6, fourth in Atlantic) 5-2 before a raucous, sold out Verizon Center Sunday afternoon on national television.

The Capitals got goals from five different players, and held the Pens' dynamic duo to an assist apiece in turning back the tenth place team in the conference, despite being granted eight power play chances to DC's three, including all three man-advantages int he third period. Pittsburgh went just 1-for-8 with the extra man. The Caps went two-for-three.

The Capitals are 3-0 against the Penguins this season and 4-1-1 since Bruce Boudreau took over in November 2007. The Caps have won 13 straight at home against Eastern Conference opponents and hold the East's best home record at 24-5-1 overall.

The win gives the Caps their best record through 60 games in franchise history.

Washington received goals from Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov, Shaone Morrisonn and Brooks Laich, chasing Peguins starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury after Laich's tally. Pittsburgh got markers from Maxime Talbot and Sergei Gonchar, playing in just his fourth game this season since returning from a shoulder injury.

Jose Theodore made 31 saves in the win for Washington.

Maxime Talbot and Sergei Gonchar scored for the Penguins, losers of six of seven on the road.

Never was the status of this rivalry more evident than late in the second period, as both superstars were exiting the ice for a line change. Ovie gave Crosby a shoulder check and Crosby responded by trying to dump Ovechkin over the boards and into the Caps team bench. Ovechkin grabbed Crosby by the back of the neck, pulling his helmet off in the process, right in front of Washington's bench, and on-ice reporter Pierre McGuire for NBC.

A linesman stepped between the players and the jawing continued, but Ovechkin got the last word in waving "bye bye" to Sid the Kid as Crosby was pushed toward the Penguins bench, much like a petulant child sent to a "time out".

"I think he got frustrated because he wasn't getting the freedom he's had in this building before," Boudreau said of Crosby's dust-up with Ovechkin. "It adds spice. It's entertainment. It gets your blood boiling a bit. And every time Alex gets a little more excitable, it can be good for us."

The Capitals face their other rival from the Commonwealth, the Philadelphia Flyers, Tuesday night at 7:00 pm from Verizon Center. Philly fell to Pittsburgh Saturday night 5-4, and are fourth in the conference with 71 points.

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SCORESHEET

1ST PERIOD
06:53 Power Play - Alex Ovechkin (43), Snap Shot. Assist: Backstrom, Fedorov
12:08 Maxime Talbot (8), Wrist Shot. Assist: Eaton, Orpik
13:02 Power Play - Alexander Semin (22), Wrist Shot. Assist: Backstrom, Green

2ND PERIOD
00.56 Sergei Fedorov (6), Slap Shot. Assist: Semin
04:46 Power Play - Sergei Gonchar (2), Slap Shot. Assist: Crosby, Malkin
12:56 Shaone Morrisonn (3), Slap Shot. Assist: Ovechkin, Fehr
13:21 Brooks Laich (14), Wrist Shot. Assist: Poti, Morrisonn

3RD PERIOD
None

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THREE STARS

1. S. Fedorov - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 1)

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

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

The Washington Capitals (37-17-5-79, first in Southeast) host the Pittsburgh Penguins (29-25-6-64, fourth in Atlantic) at 12:30 pm from Verizon Center.

Volumes have been written about the personal agendas, vendettas, rivalries and grudges involved between these two hockey teams. On one hand, you have the reigning MVP and a quiet but opinionated ingenue, on the other hand you have the reluctant saviour and the brilliant tactician.

But all that aside, we have a hockey game to play.

The Caps are coming off a miserable performance Friday night against Colorado, losing 4-1 and getting dominated in every facet of the game. Previous to that game, Washington had won three consecutive.

Pittsburgh has played well of late, coinciding with the firing of head coach Michel Therrien on February 15, winning back-to-back 5-4 games over Montreal and Philadelphia. They are 2-0-1 since hiring new coach Dan Bylsma.

Evgeni Malkin has goals in three straight games, and Sidney Crosby had a two-goal game against Philly Saturday night.

Malkin and Crosby, of course, lead the Penguins on a nightly basis. Malkin has 84 points (26 goals, 58 assists, plus-20) and leads the league in scoring. Crosby is not far behind (21-53-74, plus-2). The pair sandwich Alex Ovechkin, Washington's Superman, who sits with 75 points in his attempt to become the first player to win back-to-back Hart Trophies since Dominik Hasek in 1997 and 1998.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves in the win over the Flyers and will likely start between the pipes. In 41 games this season, he's 20-15-4, with a 2.84 goals against and .910 save percentage.

Pittsburgh is currently 10th in the conference and really needs to pick up points wherever they can, and Verizon Center is a place they've had some success, winning their last five games to the "Phone Booth". The Caps returned the favor by winning a pair in Pittsburgh earlier this season.

The national television audience on NBC will get a healthy dose of Ovechkin-Malkin/Semin-Crosby drama. Drama sells tickets. But underneath all the drama, this game is filled with extremely talented hockey players trying to earn a critical two points as the season gets to crunch time.
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SPECIAL TEAMS

WAS: PP-4th (23.6%, 57/242); PK-21st (79.6%, 58/284)
PIT: PP-25th (16.3%, 41/252; PK-19th (80.5%, 47/241)
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INJURIES

WAS: RW Viktor Kozlov (Groin-IR); G Brent Johnson (Hip-IR); RW Chris Clark (Wrist-IR); D Brian Pothier (Concussion-IR)

PIT: D Philippe Boucher (Foot-IR); C Mike Zigomanis (Shoulder-IR)

Ever have one of those days that start when you spill your coffee in your lap, and it just gets worse from there? That's what tonight's 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, the last place team in the Western Conference, was like for the Washington Capitals (37-17-5-79, first in Southeast).

Case in point: Colorado got a goal from defenseman Adam Foote, who had not scored a goal in 105 games.

Goalie Andrew Raycroft shut the Caps high-powered offense down most of the night, swallowing up shots from the wings and points. Raycroft, owner of a 3.05 goals against and .895 save percentage, allowed one goal on 29 shots, and now owns two road victories over Detroit and one over the Caps among his 11 wins for the season.

And the dominance of the cellar-dwelling Avalanche was no more evident than their first goal, as Ryan Smyth had no fewer than four whacks at a puck that goalie Jose Theodore thought he had pinned against the post. Colorado had four clean wrap-around attempts, embarrassing the Capitals lack of defense almost at will.

Odd-man rushes for Colorado were the order of the day. On the Avs final goal, Tom Poti got caught in no man's land, where he was indecisive about trying to collect a loose puck; he failed to go full out for the puck and failed to get back, resulting in a two-on-one with Smyth and Wojtek Wolski, who got enough on the feed from Smyth to get the Avs' fourth goal to trickle through Theodore.

Theodore did not have a particularly strong night, though he did make a couple of nifty saves. But saying he had no help would be a drastic understatement.

But all the blame should not be placed upon the defense or Theodore. The Caps had a game plan to counter Colorado's trapping, tightly packed defensive scheme. They just didn't execute it. Most of the evening, the Caps spent futile efforts trying to stick-handle through the clogged middle, more often than not resulting in breakouts the other way.

And when the Caps were able to break free, they could not capitalize. Tomas Fleischmann twice missed wide open nets. Alexander Semin could not finish a breakaway attempt. And newcomer Staffan Kronwall missed an open net on a rebound as well.

Only a Niklas Backstrom wrist shot with 13 seconds remaining in the first period prevented a shut out. Credit Eric Fehr with drawing three defenders out of the crease, giving Backstrom all the net he needed to work with.

Neutral zone turnovers by veterans Michael Nylander and Donald Brashear led directly to Colorado goals as well.

Left to speak for his mates after the game, Theodore was candid in his assessment. "Bruce [Boudreau] said before the game that's what they were going to do: block the middle," he said. "That we would have to dump the puck and go get it ourselves. It seems that we didn't do it. We didn't listen to the game plan. They were blocking the middle so well that we couldn't get our speed, we couldn't get into the zone."

Coach Boudreau was succinct in his post-game notes.

"We had nothing; we were horrible out there," Boudreau snapped. "Everybody had their bad game at the same time. You win a lot of games in a row, you're going to have a stinker. Today was it."

Not many more questions were posed by the gathered media, perhaps still scalding form the tongue lashing Boudreau administered after the morning skate, when a reporter asked if his team "played down" to lesser competition.

"When was the last time we played down to our competition?" Boudreau asked. "We've lost two games [in regulation] in our last 14 and [the Kings] won [four] games in a row on that road trip against good teams. We weren't playing down to them -- they were playing really well. Colorado has won [two] games in a row and is desperate. Every team has sense of urgency, and it is the NHL -- there's no bad teams. Do we think we are holier than thou? We don't. We think we're a hard-working team that has had some success. That question is not a good question." --In the Room, Washington Times.com

So was the coach prepping the media for the "desperate" Avalanche? Was he bristling at the veiled notion that it's the coach's job to get his team to play through lesser competition? Or did he simply spill coffee on his slacks on his way to work?

Beating Pittsburgh on national television will go a long way in helping everyone forget this game ever happened.

Photos (c) C. Nichols 2009.

Third Period

More good news, Colorado is 17-0-0 entering the third period with a lead.

Tucker made a nifty move at the post and Theo covered up safely. Tucker was alone as all three Caps in the zone chased the puck behind the net.

Colorado makes it 3-1 as Theo gets beat badly glove side on a soft wrist shot by Arnason at 3:33.

Schultz takes a lazy, lousy hooking penalty at 6:19 when he decides to reach instead of moving his feet. Bad time to take a bad penalty.

Caps get a call as Semin is knocked off his feet by Clark at 7:55. Caps have 24 second left and then a 1:40 power play.

Plenty of quailty chances so far in the PP, but Raycroft is in front of everything.

Caps typically playing much better here inthe third, but to no avail so far. 8:43 left.

I don't know how Fleischmann missed that wide open net either.

Poti got caught in no man's land, the Avs come down on a 2-on-1 and Wolski finishes it on a feed from Smyth. Thus ends the competitive portion of the evening. 4-1 Colorado.

Backstrom and Wolski mugging each other provides a comedic ending to an ugly game.

Second Period

A little more action up front to start the second. Theo made two nice saves in the first 4-plus minutes.

Semin stoned by Raycroft on a semi-breakaway.

Flash with a good shot swallowed by Raycroft.

Terrible turnover by Nylander leads to Adam Foote?!? scoring his first goal in 105 games. Just a terrible give-away. The original two-on-one was thwarted, but Colorado had the advantage and Foote sneaked in to beat Theo high blocker side. Time of goal 7:46.

Next shift, Ovie and Green rough up MacLeod a little bit. Someone's got to do it.

Raycroft with a great save on Federov. If Feds could have gotten some lift he had Raycroft dead to rights, but the goalie got it with his right pad.

Poti made a very nice sliding break up of a 3-on-1. The Caps are just not playing very well right now.

Six and a half left, and the Caps are still being outshot by 6.

Fehr couldn't get his stick turned to finish a sweet feed by Ovie through the slot. They had the D and Raycroft both beat.

Nyls takes a high stick at 16:32 trying to break up another 2-on-1. Back to the PK.

Gordon missed on a sharp angle shot on the PK. nice break out with the man down.

Theo makes a nice glove save on a shot from the circle. 30 seconds left on the kill. Job well done on the PK. Colorado is 0-for -3 so far on the PP.

And the period ends without a last minute goal. The last shift by the 8-19-28 line had trouble getting through the neutral zone. The Caps are skating through quicksand right now.

SOG: WAS-16, COL-20
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First Period

Kinda slow start to this one as we're almost five minutes in and we have three shots on goal. Only real action was Ovie getting hauled down and dumped into the net.

Kronwall made his presence known, flattening Darcy Tucker at the Caps blue line. Kronwall is in the line up as Erskine was a scratch with the flu.

Nice save by Theo on a one timer at 6:19 from Guite from the left wing circle.

Theo stuffed Smyth on a wrap around attempt. and then flat robbed Wolski from point blank. Colorado is playing in the Caps zone an awful lot so far.

Jurcina with a big shot from the point that Raycroft swallowed up.

Flash missed a "puppet" at about 9:20. Wide open net and he fired high. best chance the Caps have had so far.

More good forechecking by Colorado leads to Smyth's wrap-around goal, the second time he's tried the move tonight. Theo thought he had the call, but the ref didn't hear it. Replay showed Theo had it pressed against the post, and Smyth's third whack at it pushed it in. Caps are being outshot 7-4 and getting outplayed.

Poti called for a interference at 15:07 when the Colorado player simply ran into him. Bad call.

Jurica called for tripping (16:12) a guy that didn't fall down. What's going on here?

Theo nice save on Salei on the 5-on-3. Salei then gets called for a hook at 16:55, making the job a little easier. First penalty ends clean. Theo with a glove save with 40 seconds remaining on Jucina's call.

Ovie gets flat-out tackled at the blue line on the power play with no call.

Backstrom wakes up the crowd with a shot off the inside of the post with 14 seconds remaining. Nice pass from Flash to set him up, with another Cap going through the crease.

The goal and the penalty killing give the Caps something to hang their hats on for the second period. They were generally outplayed in the first, but seemed to pick up some energy during the PK, then scoring with 14 seconds left.

SOG: WAS-8, COL-12