The Washington Capitals (13-8-3-29, first in Southeast) face the Florida Panthers (9-11-3-21, third in Southeast) in the first of six meetings between the two division rivals this season at 7:00 p.m. from Verizon Center.

The Caps closed out a very good month of November (8-5-2) with back-to-back shut outs--one for and one against--but look to continue their high scoring ways tonight versus the Panthers.

Alex Ovechkin on Monday was named the NHL's #1 Star for November after scoring 25 points in the month, including a 10-game point streak. After a slow start, Ovie is now tied for fifth in the league in scoring with a total of 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists). His +13 has him tied for third behind teammate and NHL #1 Star for October Alexander Semin.

Despite having missed the last eight games with back and shoulder problems, Semin is still tied for seventh in scoring with 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists). The team has weathered the storm of injuries in the last couple of weeks but will still be without some of its most important players for tonight's game.

Along with Semin, Sergei Federov, Mike Green, Tom Poti and John Erskine are all expected to miss the Panthers game, and a decision about Boyd Gordon still had not been made. Karl Alzner, who left the game in Columbus Saturday after a hard hit into the side boards, practiced Monday and should suit up, along with fellow recent call-ups Bryan Helmer and Sami Lepisto. They join Tyler Sloan as players who started with AHL Hershey now manning the Washington blue line.

Winger Tomas Fleischmann has been hot of late, scoring six of his nine goals in the last 14 games. He has points in four of his last five games.

Coach Bruce Boudreau plans to start Jose Theodore in net after making 28 saves in a the shut out win versus Montreal on Friday. He was won three of his last four starts overall and owns a 1.77 GAA at home this season.

Tonight's lines, courtesy of Capitals Insider:

Forwards:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Nylander-Bradley
Laich-Steckel-Fehr
Brashear-Gordon-Mink

Defense:
Lepisto-Morrisonn
Alzner-Jurcina
Sloan-Helmer

Florida enters this contest losers of two of their last three games, including an overtime loss to New Jersey and a shoot out loss to the New York Rangers. The Panthers rebounded, however, against those same Rangers to earn a 4-0 shut out Saturday behind goaltender Craig Anderson Saturday night.

Anderson, normally the backup behind Tomas Vokoun, has been stellar this season, going 4-1-3 (1.87 GAA, .948 Sv%) in his ten starts while Vokoun has struggled. His only regulation loss came to St. Louis back on October 25. Anderson is 0-3 in his career against Washington.

The Panthers are one of the league's lowest scoring teams, averaging just 2.39 goals per game. Their task may be tougher for a while as David Booth, their leading scorer with 12 goals, injured his shoulder in the win over the Rangers and is out for tonight's game. No other Panther has more than six goals.

Washington is 9-0-1 at home this season, averaging 3.6 goals per home game.
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SPECIAL TEAMS

WAS: PP-11th (19.8%, 20/101); PK-24th (79.0%, 25/119)
FLA: PP-27th (13.6%, 12/88); PK-11th (83.0%, 17/100)
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INJURIES

WAS: D Karl Alzner (Shoulder-PROB); RW Chris Clark (Forearm-OOU); D John Erskine (Concussion-OUT); C Sergei Fedorov (Ankle-QUES); D Mike Green (Shoulder-IR); D Tom Poti (Groin-QUES); D Jeff Schultz (Finger-IR ); LW Alexander Semin (Back-IR): D Brian Pothier (Concussion-OUT)

FLA: RW Nathan Horton (Leg-IR); LW Cory Stillman (Concussion-IR); LW Richard Zednik (Arm-IR); D Bryan Allen (Knee-IR); LW David Booth (Shoulder-OUT); D Cory Murphy (Shoulder-IR)

• Alex Ovechkin was named the NHL's #1 Star for the month of November. Last year's MVP had 11 goals and 14 assists in 15 games, including a ten-game scoring streak that ended in the 3-0 shut out loss to Columbus Saturday night. Teammate Alexander Semin was October's #1 Star.
  
  
• Coach Bruce Boudreau stated after Monday's practice that Jose Theodore will start Tuesday against Florida.
  
  
• Rookie D Karl Alzner participated in Monday's practice and is probable for Florida.
  
  
• Semin, D Mike Green and C Sergei Federov were all limited in practice and skated, but none are expected to play Tuesday. C Boyd Gordon and Ds Tom Poti and John Erskine did not practice and will not play.
  
  
• The team indicated they will make one recall today for the game tomorrow. If Gordon can't play, they might make two additions.
  
  
• Florida is coming off a 4-0 whitewash of the New York Rangers yesterday.
  
  
• Hershey (AHL) extended its winning streak to nine games with wins over Norfolk (3-2) and Philadelphia (9-0). The Bears are one short of the franchine record of 10, set in 2001-02.

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.

Behind stellar goaltending from embattled netminder Jose Theodore, the Washington Capitals (13-7-3-29, first in Southeast) shut out his former team, the Montreal Canadiens (12-6-4-28, second in Northeast), 3-0 before a sell-out Friday night crowd.

Theodore easily played his best game to date as a Capital, stopping all 28 saves he faced. He played in control the entire game, looking very much like the all-star and MVP he was while wearing les blue, blanc et rouge of last night's opponent.

Theodore would not admit to revenge against a team that the last he faced surrendered eight goals in a loss while with Colorado in 2006, but completing the shut out had to be personally satisfying on top of providing a vital two points in the standings, on a night where four of his active defensemen were starters in Hershey (AHL) at the beginning of the season.

The team lost Tom Poti to a strained groin Wednesday in the Caps win over Atlanta, so Washington was forced to call up yet another minor leaguer to man their blue line, this time recalling veteran Bryan Helmer, to team with Tyler Sloan, Sami Lepisto and Karl Alzner as former Hershey Bears in the lineup for Washington against an offensively creative Canadiens team.

Tomas Fleischmann started the scoring for Washington when he snapped a shot past Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak. Canadians defenseman Francis Bouillon played the puck behind his own net, trying to pass out to a wing, but Fleischmann intercepted the pass right in front of Halak. Fleischmann tapped the puck to Michael Nylander, who was forechecking as well, and Nylander gave it right back and Fleischmann made no mistake.

Alex Ovechkin added his 13th goal of the season in the third period, extending his scoring streak to 10 straight games. During that stretch, he has tallied 11 goals and 11 assists, and leads the NHL in scoring in November and is now tied for second overall.

David Steckel redirected a shot from Lepisto at 8:46 to cap the scoring. The rest was left to Theodore.

Washington travels tonight to Columbus to face the Blue Jackets (9-10-3-21, fourth in Central Division) at 7:00 p.m. from Nationwide Arena. Brent Johnson will get the nod in goal tonight for the Caps.

Columbus is led on offense by Rick Nash (10-9-19, +3), with Derick Brassard, Kristian Huselius and R.J. Umberger all adding eight goals apiece. Rookie G Steve Mason has not looked out of place in his six starts. He's 4-1-1 with a .913 save percentage and a 2.28 GAA.

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SCORESHEET

WAS: Fleischmann (9) from Nylander (1-11:03); Ovechkin (13) from Backstrom (3-3:42); Steckel (4) from Lepisto and Laich (3-8:46).

MON: None.
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THREE STARS

1. J. Theodore - WAS (Saves: 28, Save Pct: 1.000)
2. A. Ovechkin - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
3. T. Fleischmann - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
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NOTES

Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau earned his 50th win as the coach of the Capitals. He becomes the fastest to 50 in the team's history, recording the win in 84 games.

The 36-year-old Helmer played in his first NHL game since April 2004 with Phoenix.

The Washington Capitals (12-7-3-27, first in Southeast) play holiday hosts to the Montreal Canadiens (12-5-4-28, second in Northeast) at 7:00 pm ET from the Verizon Center.

The injury-riddled Caps come off Wednesday's victory over the Atlanta Thrashers with still more missing players. Veteran Tom Poti strained a groin in the 5-3 win, and he'll be on the shelf with the rest of the Caps' walking wounded. A quick glance of the Caps injury sheet reads like a Russian novel.

Out for tonight's game include four of their top six defenders (Poti, Mike Green (shoulder), Jeff Schultz (finger), and John Eskine (concussion). Absent up front are the team's second leading scorer Alexander Semin, veteran center Sergei Federov and captain Chris Clark.

To compensate for Poti's injury, Washington signed and recalled veteran minor league D Bryan Helmer and will pair him with Tyler Sloan, with whom he was playing in Hershey before Sloan's call-up.

Helmer, 36, is a 6'1", 215-pound 16-year pro from Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He is the Bears captain and is second among team defensemen with eight assists. He has also recorded 14 penalty minutes in 21 games this year.

Helmer, who was undrafted, is a veteran of 134 NHL games and most recently played with the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2003-04 season. He also suited up for the St. Louis Blues and the Vancouver Canucks and has eight goals, 15 assists and 133 penalty minutes on his NHL resume.

The entire Caps' defensive corps tonight--Shaone Morrisonn, Milan Jurcina, Bryan Helmer, Tyler Sloan, Sami Lepisto Karl Alzner--has a total of 669 NHL games to its credit, more than 400 games less than Montreal defensemen Roman Hamrlik and Patrice Brisbois combined.

Winger Graham Mink was returned to Hershey to make room for Helmer and Boyd Gordon is expected to return from his bout with back spasms.

Tonight's lines, reported by Capitals Insider:

Forwards:
Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Nylander-Fehr
Laich-Steckel-Bradley
Brashear-Gordon-Bourque

Defense:
Lepisto-Morrisonn
Alzner-Jurcina
Helmer-Sloan

Les Habitant du Montreal are led by Saku Koivu (7-11-18, +9), Alex Tanguay (8-9-17, +5) and Aelxei Kovalev (5-11-16, even). Kovalev has gone nine games without a goal this month and Montreal has lost six of them.

Carey Price is the number one goaltender. He is 10-4-6 with a 2.33 GAA and .923 Sv%. Price was sharp between the pipes in Wednesday's 3-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Price stopped 32 shots in the game and allowed only a goal to Johan Franzen in the 3rd period.
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SPECIAL TEAMS

WAS: PP-7th (21.5%, 20/93); PK-25th (77.9%, 25/113)
MON: PP-22nd (15.5%, 16/103); PK-15th (81.9%, 19/105)
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INJURIES

WAS: RW Chris Clark (Forearm-Out); D John Erskine (Concussion-QUE); C Sergei Fedorov (Ankle-QUE); C Boyd Gordon (Back-PROB); D Mike Green (Shoulder-OUT); D Tom Poti Groin-DOU); D Jeff Schultz (Finger-IR); LW Alexander Semin (Back-OUT); D Brian Pothier (Concussion-OUT)

MON: D Mike Komisarek (Upper body-IR); RW Georges Laraque (Groin-OUT); RW Guillaume Latendresse (Shoulder-QUE); LW Alex Tanguay (Neck-QUE)

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)

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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 Washington Capitals (11-7-3-25, first in Southeast Division) host the Atlanta Thrashers (8-10-2-18, third in Southeast Division) from Verizon Center at 7:00 pm ET.

As the team limps home from a five-game road trip that they finished 1-3-1, the theme for tonight's game is David Bowie's "Ch-ch-ch-changes, turn and face the strange", since four new players will be in the Washington line-up this evening. Recalled from Hershey are wingers Chris Bourgue and Graham Mink and defensemen Sami Lepisto and Karl Alzner. All four players will dress and play key roles for the parent club tonight.

This morning, the team placed D Jeff Schultz (broken finger) and RW Chris Clark (broken wirst) on the long-term injury list (LTIR), which means both players must miss at least 10 games, pushing their potential return date into mid-December. By putting the two on LTIR, the Caps received cap space to add the new players.

Schultz and Clark join Sergei Federov, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Boyd Gordon and John Eskine on the injured list. Most of the others are still labelled "day-to-day", though none participated in the morning skate.

Here are tonight's lines, reported by Capitals Insider:

Ovechkin-Backstrom-Kozlov
Fleischmann-Nylander-Fehr
Bourque-Laich-Bradley
Brashear-Steckel-Mink

Sloan-Poti
Alzner-Jurcina
Lepisto-Morrisonn

Atlanta is led by forwards Slava Kozlov (11-8-19, +1), Ilya Kovalchuk (7-11-18, -2) and Bryan Little (9-9-18, +8). Top goaltender Kari Lehtonen (2-5-2, 3.44, .903) has struggled and is hampered now by a sore back. Johan Hedberg (4-3-0, 3.88, .884) has not provided solid backup either, and the team recalled Ondej Pavelec (2-2-0, 2.33, .913) when Lehtonen went down and the youngster has provided a spark.

Hedberg got the win last night as Atlanta defeated Toronto 6-3. Todd White had two goals in the effort. The Thrashers had lost their previous three games.
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SPECIAL TEAMS

WAS: PP-10th (20.2%, 18-89); PK-24th (79.1%, 23-110)
ATL: PP-15th (18.4%, 16-87); PK-28th (75.0%, 23-92)
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INJURIES (OUT, DBT-doubtful, QUE-Questionable, DTD-Day to day; IR-Injury List)

WAS: C Sergei Fedorov (Ankle-OUT); LW Alexander Semin (Upper body-OUT); D John Erskine (Undisclosed-QUE); C Boyd Gordon (Back-QUE); D Mike Green (Shoulder-OUT); D Jeff Schultz (Finger-OUT); RW Chris Clark (Wrist-OUT); D Brian Pothier (Concussion-OUT)
ATL: C Steve Rucchin (concussion-DBT); D Zach Bogosian (leg-IR_; G Kari Lehtonen Back-QUE)