Alexandre Giroux, Mike Knuble and Jay Beagle scored for the Capitals in regulation, and Brian Pothier netted the game winner in OT to give the Caps a 4-3 win against Buffalo in their first pre-season game.

Pothier's goal came on a 5-on-3 advantage in the extra frame after Mike Weber boarded Brendan Morrison, knocking him into the boards from behind. Morrison stayed down for a couple minutes, but was described as "fine" after the game. Pothier added and assist on Knuble's goal earlier in the third period.

Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 shots in the first two periods, but surrendered three goals on six shots in the third. "I think Varly was outstanding the first two periods," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They got [three] in the third, but I thought he was really good."

Washington won 62 perfect of their face-offs, with Beagle (70 percent), Brendan Morrison (68 percent) and Nicklas Backstrom (63 percent) leading the way.

"There were a lot of good things," Boudreau said of the game. "In the third period, even though they got three goals, we were the dominant team, which was good."

NOTES: Defenseman Tyler Sloan finished with five blocked shots.

The Caps out shot Buffalo 33-23. Backstrom led the team with five shots, Beagle had four.

Backstrom assisted on Knuble's tip in and the game-winner. Morrison and Chris Clark assisted on Giroux's goal and Andrew Gorgon got the helper on Beagle's tally.

Capitals Insider has a look at the lines for tonight's preseason matchup with the Buffalo Sabres.

No Ovie. No Semin. No Green. No Nylander. But it should be a good look at some guys that coul dbe called upon this season as the grind of 82 games takes its toll.

It'll be the first time we see Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison pull on the red, white and blue. Knuble scored twice earlier this week to lead his team to the Gaetan Duchesne Cup, the winning team in a round robin tournament coach Bruce Boudreau set up to relieve some of the tediousness of training camp.

Here's the schedule for this weekend at Kettler:

Thursday, Sept. 17
10 a.m.: Morning skate
11:15 a.m.: Practice
1 p.m.: Practice
7 p.m.: at Buffalo, HSBC Arena, Buffalo, N.Y.
Audio: WashingtonCaps.com

Friday, Sept. 18
10 a.m.: Group A practice
11:30 a.m.: Group B practice

Saturday, Sept. 19
10 a.m.: Morning skate
11:15 a.m.: Group B practice
8:30 p.m. ET: at Chicago, United Center
Radio: Caps Radio 1500 and 820 AM, WashingtonCaps.com TV: CSN (Chicago)

And great big Happy Birthday to Alex Ovechkin, who turns all of 24 years of age today. It's good to be Ovie!

Posted by Cheryl Nichols, Contributor and Photographer for Capitals News Network

The Caps held their first practice of training camp on Sunday, Sept. 13 in preparation for the 2009-10 NHL season. Fans won't be surprised to hear that Alex Ovechkin was the first player on the ice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex.

Sixty-eight players (40 forwards, 22 defensemen and six goaltenders) are listed on the Capitals’ training camp roster and 65 of those players took the ice today at Kettler.

The absentees were left wing Tomas Fleischmann, goaltender Braden Holtby and defenseman Grant McNeill. Holtby tweaked a groin and was held out as a precautionary measure. McNeill had off-season knee surgery and is not ready to go as of yet.

According to Mike Vogel, Fleischmann is suffering from deep vein thrombosis, a condition that may have been inflicted on the long airline flight from D.C. to Fleischmann’s home in the Czech Republic at the conclusion of last season. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau expects Flesichmann to be able to return to practice sometime in October and perhaps to the lineup by the second or third week of next month. See Vogel's other training camp updates here. *UPDATED* Fleischmann talks about his blood clot.

The first practice brought many season ticket holders and other fans to Kettler to catch a first glance at the Caps and welcome them back to the ice. Some fans were impressed by Mike Knuble, one of the newest Caps, and his drives to the net.

One fan mentioned that both Jose Theodore and Semyon Varlamov looked strong and made some "awesome" saves. One of the younger players, John Carlson, took one to the lower lip in a battle for the puck.

PLAYER THOUGHTS AND NOTES:

·Newcombers Mike Knuble and Brendan Morrison are ready to play.

·Mike Green has a good feeling about this year.

·Alexander Semin will be conversing more with the media thanks to translator Dmitry Chesnokov.

·Jose Theodore is facing biggest challenge of his life after the recent death of his two month old son.

·Michael Nylander wants to play in NHL.

·Check out the interviews with Coach Bruce and several players from training camp here.

ROOKIE GAME:

If you missed the Annual Rookie game on Friday, Sept 11 against Flyers in Philadelpha, you can watch the game online. Flyers win 7-3. Caps outshoot Philly 32-27. Period 1, Period 2, Period 3.

NEXT UP:
Teams B & C scrimmage at 12:15 p.m. today, Sept. 14 at Kettler which is free and open to the public.

Press Release:

All Capitals Games to be Televised During 2009-10 SeasonComcast SportsNet to broadcast 75 games, 49 games in high definition

Thursday, 09.10.2009 / 10:54 AM / News ARLINGTON, Va. – The Washington Capitals will have all of their 82 regular-season games televised during the 2009-10 season, the team announced today in conjunction with its broadcast partner, Comcast SportsNet. Comcast SportsNet will televise 75 games, with 49 games available in high definition.

Coverage plans include 62 games on Comcast SportsNet and 12 games on CSN+. Comcast SportsNet will open its coverage with Washington’s first home game of the year on Saturday, Oct. 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Verizon Center at 7 p.m. The game will be complimented by extensive pre- and postgame coverage on the network.

Joe Beninati and former Capital Craig Laughlin return to provide play-by-play and color commentary, respectively, on the local broadcasts, with Al Koken reporting rinkside. Lisa Hillary will also join the broadcast as a reporter.

CSN+ is widely carried by cable and satellite carriers throughout the Comcast SportsNet viewing area. The channel position for CSN+ varies by provider, but all channels are listed on www.csnwashington.com. One game will be carried on The Comcast Network, which is also available to cable and satellite providers in the area.

Versus will broadcast seven games nationally, including Washington’s season opening game on Thursday, Oct. 1 against the Boston Bruins. Versus will also broadcast on Oct. 6 and Oct. 27 vs. Philadelphia, Nov. 17 at N.Y. Rangers, March 8 vs. Dallas and April 5 vs. Boston. On April 6 when Washington plays at Pittsburgh, Versus will broadcast nationally, while CSN will broadcast locally.


October
Thurs., Oct. 1 at Boston 7 p.m. VERSUS
Sat., Oct. 3 Toronto 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Oct. 6 at Philadelphia 7 p.m. VERSUS
Thurs., Oct. 8 N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Oct. 10 at Detroit 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., Oct. 12 New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Oct. 15 San Jose 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Oct. 17 Nashville 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Oct. 22 at Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Oct. 24 at N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN
Tues., Oct. 27 Philadelphia 7 p.m. VERSUS
Thurs., Oct. 29 at Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Oct. 30 N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN+

November
Sun., Nov. 1 Columbus 5 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., Nov. 4 at New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN
Fri., Nov. 6 at Florida 7:30 p.m. CSN+
Sat., Nov. 7 Florida 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., Nov. 11 N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Nov. 13 Minnesota 7 p.m. CSN+
Sat., Nov. 14 at New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN+
Tues., Nov. 17 at N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. VERSUS
Fri., Nov. 20 Montreal 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Nov. 21 at Toronto 7 p.m. CSN+
Mon., Nov. 23 at Ottawa 7:30 p.m. CSN
Wed., Nov. 25 Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Nov. 28 at Montreal 7 p.m. CSN+
Mon., Nov. 30 at Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)

December
Thurs., Dec. 3 Florida 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Dec. 5 at Philadelphia 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., Dec. 7 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m. CSN
Wed., Dec. 9 at Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN
Fri., Dec. 11 Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Dec. 12 at Toronto 7 p.m. CSN+
Tues., Dec. 15 at Colorado 9:30 p.m. CSN
Fri., Dec. 18 at Vancouver 10 p.m. CSN
Sat., Dec. 19 at Edmonton 10 p.m. CSN+
Wed., Dec. 23 Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Dec. 26 New Jersey 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., Dec. 28 Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., Dec. 30 at San Jose 10 p.m. CSN (HD)

January
Sat., Jan. 2 at Los Angeles 4 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 5 Montreal 7 p.m. CSN+
Thurs., Jan. 7 Ottawa 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Jan. 9 at Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 12 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m. CSN+
Wed., Jan. 13 at Florida 7:30 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Jan. 15 Toronto 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., Jan. 17 Philadelphia 3 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 19 Detroit 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Jan. 21 at Pittsburgh 7:30 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., Jan. 23 Phoenix 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., Jan. 26 at N.Y. Islanders 7 p.m. CSN+
Wed., Jan. 27 Anaheim 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., Jan. 29 Florida 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., Jan. 31 Tampa Bay 3 p.m. CSN (HD)

February
Tues., Feb. 2 at Boston 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., Feb. 4 at N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. CSN
Fri., Feb. 5 Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN+
Sun., Feb. 7 Pittsburgh TBD NBC
Wed., Feb. 10 at Montreal 7:30 p.m. CSN
Thurs., Feb. 11 at Ottawa 7 p.m. CSN
Sat., Feb. 13 at St. Louis 8 p.m. CSN (HD)
Olympic Break
March
Wed., March 3 at Buffalo 7 p.m. CSN
Thurs., March 4 Tampa Bay 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., March 6 N.Y. Rangers 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., March 8 Dallas 7 p.m. VERSUS
Wed., March 10 Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Fri., March 12 Tampa Bay 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., March 14 at Chicago TBD CSN
Tues., March 16 at Florida 7:30 p.m. CSN
Thurs., March 18 at Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., March 20 at Tampa Bay 7:30 p.m. CSN (HD)
Wed., March 24 Pittsburgh 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Thurs., March 25 at Carolina 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sun., March 28 Calgary 3 p.m. CSN (HD)
Tues., March 30 Ottawa 7 p.m. CSN (HD)

April
Thurs., April 1 Atlanta 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Sat., April 3 at Columbus 7 p.m. CSN (HD)
Mon., April 5 Boston 7 p.m. VERSUS
Tues., April 6 at Pittsburgh 7 p.m. CSN/VS
Fri., April 9 Atlanta 7 p.m. TCN
Sun., April 11 Boston 3 p.m. CSN (HD)

All Times Eastern

From the team's release:

Rookie camp will begin Monday, Sept. 7, and will conclude with a road game against the Philadelphia Flyers rookies at 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11, at Virtua Center Flyers Skate Zone in Voorhees, N.J. The game is open to the public and free of charge. This is the third straight year that Washington rookies will play Philadelphia rookies prior to training camp.

Veterans will report to training camp on Saturday, Sept. 12, and will be available for interviews and photographs at Kettler Capitals Iceplex that day. On-ice training camp activities will begin on Monday, Sept. 13.

Also, a little late on this, but here are the Caps' national NHL TV schedule, again, via the team's press release:

VERSUS will broadcast seven Washington Capitals games to a national television audience in 2009-10, the network announced today. NBC, which will operate under a flexible schedule for eight of the network’s regular-season dates, has five potential Washington games to pick from.

VERSUS, which will broadcast 54 regular-season NHL games, will feature the Capitals seven times this season starting with Washington’ season-opening visit to Boston on Oct. 1. The network will also broadcast the following games: Oct. 6 at Philadelphia, Oct. 27 vs. Philadelphia, Nov. 17 at the New York Rangers, March 8 vs. Dallas, April 5 vs. Boston and April 6 at Pittsburgh.

In addition to the national broadcasts in the United States, 17 Capitals games will be televised nationally in Canada. CBC will televise five Capitals games: Oct. 3 vs. Toronto, Nov. 21 at Toronto, Nov. 28 at Montreal, Dec. 12 at Toronto and Dec. 19 at Edmonton. TSN will televise eight Washington games: Oct. 27 vs. Philadelphia, Nov. 20 vs. Montreal, Dec. 18 at Vancouver, Jan. 7 vs. Ottawa, Jan. 15 vs. Toronto, Feb. 10 at Montreal, Feb. 11 at Ottawa and April 5 vs. Boston. TSN2 will televise four games: Oct. 6 at Philadelphia, Nov. 17 at New York Rangers, March 8 vs. Dallas and April 6 at Pittsburgh.

Longtime NHL veteran goalie Artus Irbe, one of the first European goalies to earn a starting job in the NHL, was named as goalie coach by the Washington Capitals.

According to Capitals Insider,

Although Irbe will oversee all of the organization's goalies, including veteran Jose Theodore, his biggest responsibility will be polishing touted youngsters Semyon Varlamov, a Russian, and Michal Neuvirth, a Czech, into top NHLers.

At times last season, Varlamov's limited English made communication with the coaching staff difficult. That, however, will no longer be a problem since Irbe speaks English, Russian and some German.

"I should be able to communicate with him in any language, whichever he prefers," said Irbe, a native of Latvia. "I hope it will be an asset to make it easier, the transition [to the NHL]."

GM George McPhee added: "The fact that he speaks different languages made us really think he would be a good fit for us. That helps a lot. There are some nuances to goaltenders that are difficult explain or decipher if there's a language barrier."

Irbe, in 13 NHL seasons, was 218-236-79 with a 2.83 GAA and .899 save percentage. He led the Carolina Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup finals in 2002.

Irbe replaces Dave Prior, who stepped down from the position for family reasons. Prior coached Washington's goalies for 12 seasons.

Nowhere on this team will the battle for playing time be more obvious than goal this season. Coach Bruce Boudreau has stated that Theodore comes into camp at the No. 1, but one needs to look no further than last season's playoffs to know that the title is in name only.

"Right now Jose is the No. 1 guy and the other two young men have got to come in and play the way they did last year and try to push him out," Boudreau said this morning at KCI. "Jose won 33 games for us last year, and like the year before when Cristobal Huet got hot down the stretch, Varly came in and did a great job where we just couldn't take him out."

As for Theodore, he insists that he is ready for the starting spot.

"I don't see myself as a backup. My frame of mind was to enter the summer, my off-ice training and the season as the No. 1 guy. [Whether] or not that was the case, that was going to be my approach. We all know in hockey, No. 1 is only a title. It's still on the ice that you have to earn your points."

Should be a very interesting training camp between the pipes. Irbe has his hands full in his first coaching gig at any level.

All quotes in this article courtesy of Capitals Insider.

AHL SCORING CHAMP RE-SIGNS WITH HERSHEY BEARS ON TWO-WAY CONTRACT

Alexandre Giroux, the Hershey winger who tallied 60 goals in the AHL regular season and 15 more in the Bears' run to the Calder Cup, has re-signed with the organization, the Bears announced Wednesday.

Giroux, 28, was an unrestricted free agent and signed a one-year, two-way deal, meaning he can be recalled by the Capitals. His NHL salary will be $500,000.

Last season for Hershey, the big winger scored 60 goals in 69 games -- and added 37 assists -- to capture the AHL scoring title. During one stretch, he scored a goal in 15 consecutive contests, surpassing Brett Hull's league record for goal scoring in consecutive games.

He played in 12 games for the Washington Capitals in 2008-09, with one goal and one assist.

"Alexandre Giroux was so important to our team’s success last year both on and off the ice," said Bears President/GM Doug Yingst. "For our organization, for our fans and for this region, we could not be happier that he chose to return next season."

JURICA RE-SIGNS WITH CAPS

Last week, the Capitals announced the re-signing of defenseman Milan Jurcina to a one-year contract. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Capitals Insider, Jurcina's 2009-10 salary is $1.375 million.

Jurcina, 26, appeared in a career-high 79 games for the Capitals in 2008-09 and led defensemen in games played. He had three goals and set career highs in assists (11) and points (14), and the team was 10-3-0 when he recorded a point.

Jurcina was first on the club with 131 blocked shots and second with 157 hits. He added two goals in 14 playoff games and was third on the team at +6.

Jurcina was invited to Slovakia's pre-Olympic camp, which runs this week.