Morning After Thoughts

First of all it feels a little like Ottawa this morning here in DC. What happened to our 70 degree weather? The arctic chill has set in, just as it has for the hopes of the Caps season. But not all is lost, let's take a look at the bright side of things.

• The Caps are 19-20-7, 45 points and technically only 1 game behind .500.
  
• Despite their resent struggles, they are only 5 points out of a playoff spot.
• We can't be anything but excited about the play of our superstar players Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. They have proven that they are two of the most feared snipers in the game. And at the ages of 21 and 22 respectively, their game has no where to go but up.
• The Capitals have one of the best minor league teams out there in the Hershey Bears. They have followed up their Calder Cup Championship with a solid season proving that the future is bright for the Capitals young prospects.

On the other hand:

• The Caps have lost six straight games on the road, including three straight games overall.
  
• The defense has been anything but stellar as of late, allowing at least 5 goals in each game on the current road trip.
• Already missing defenseman John Erskine and Bryan Muir to similar injuries, it looks as though the Caps may have lost the services of another in Mike Green. He took a hard slap shot off his left leg and could be out for a while depending on the results of his x-rays taken after the game. Keep your fingers crossed Caps fans, we can ill afford to loose Green for any significant length of time.
• The Caps need to work on their faceoffs. Last night's stats proved this fact as the only centers above the 50% mark were Brooks Laich with a 75% success rate and Boyd Gordon with a 60% success rate. Kudos to you Brooks and Boyd. Now how bout helping out your fellow teammates. Here were the others' faceoff win percentages last night: Danius Zubrus at 45%, Brian Sutherby 37.5%, and Jakub Klepis 0 for 5 for 0%. Attention must be given to the little details of the game in order for the team to improve.
• If the Caps continue to side, they must then make room for some of their top prospects in Hershey. Eric Fehr and Tomas Fleichmann have nothing left to prove at the AHL level. Get them some experience this year so they would be ready for a full time position from the first day of the 07-08 season.

The schedule does not get any easier as the Caps head to Carolina on Thursday to take on the defending Stanley Cup Champions. This will be the first of 3 meetings between the 2 teams over the following 10 days.

Ottawa feels more like Florida

Streak Continues as Caps Drop Their Sixth Consecutive Road Game, And Lose Defenseman Mike Green
Ottawa Senators 5, Washington Capitals 2
Boxscore

A new climate nor a new country could snap the Capitals out of their current slide as they brought their sloppy play with them from Florida. The Caps kept pace with the swift footed Senators for most of the game, but suffered from mental lapses that led to Ottawa's goals.
Brent Johnson was solid at times keeping the game from getting out of hand, but allowed a couple soft goals in key situations. With the Caps trailing 1-0, Johnson seemed to freeze the puck following a routine save, but the puck would never find his glove and squeezed through his pads to a waiting Mike Comrie who slammed the gift home for the 2-0 lead. The other soft goal occurred midway through the second period with an assist from an unlucky bounce off the Scotiabank Palace end boards right into the front of the Caps net where Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson converted for the short-handed goal, and a 3-1 lead. The newly aquired center Comrie would then put the game out reach a minute later scoring on a wrist shot for his second of the game and the 4-1 lead.
The Capitals' highlights of the game came from Steve Eminger who recorded his first goal of the season, snapping a 41 game goal scoring drought dating back to last season, on a nice hustle play from Boyd Gordon. Alex Ovechkin also got credited with an assist on the play extending his goal scoring streak to 7 games. Earlier in the game Chris Clark scored his 17th goal of the season on a short-handed goal at the end of the first period that pulled the Caps to within one 2-1.
The news got even worse for the Caps after the game as they learned that Mike Green could soon join fellow defenseman John Erskine and Bryan Muir on the injured reserve list pending the results of the x-rays taken on his left leg. Green was injured while blocking a shot towards the end of the first period. He hobbled to the bench, then even returned for a shift at the beginning of the second period before leaving the game for good. The injury could not come at a worse time for the Caps who are thin on defense to begin with. Now they could be looking at calling up another defenseman before Thursday night's game at Carolina. In all likely hood that man would be Jeff Schultz who made his NHL debut earlier in the season with the Caps.

Caps/Senators Preview

Washington Capitals (19-19-7)
at
Ottawa Senators (26-19-2)

TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: Sportstalk 980-AM
Gametime: 7:30 PM

The Caps will try to end a five game losing streak tonight when they take on the Ottawa Senators from Scotiabank Place. They will have a tough challenge as Ottawa comes into the game as one of the NHL's hottest teams with a 9-1-1 record in their last 11 games. Their run includes them riding a four game winning streak heading into tonight's contest, outscoring their opponents by a 25-10 margin during that span. With centers Jason Spezza and Mike Fisher currently sidelined with knee injuries, wingers Danny Heatley and Daniel Alfredsson have more than picked up the slack. Heatley comes into the game with 8 goals and 15 points in his last 6 games, also recording a plus 13 +/-. Alfredsson, who had started the season off slowly which lead to trade talks of the Senators' captain, has turned his season around as of late and silenced his critics recording 4 goals and 12 points to go along with a plus 11 +/- during his last 4 games.
Brent Johnson will get the start tonight, his first since that forgettable game in Buffalo on December 26th last month. In that game he lasted only the first 7 minutes and 30 seconds of the first period, allowing 4 goals on 6 shots before being replaced by Olaf Kolzig.
In an interesting move yesterday in practice Glen Hanlon moved Donald Brashear to right wing on the second scoring line that includes the Caps hottest player left wing Alexander Semin, who enters the game on a career high five game goal scoring streak, and Center Kris Beech. This will provide the team with a more physical presence and hopefully allow Brashear to open up some more space for the play making Semin.
It will be an important game that only for the Caps mentally, to rebound from the thrashing given them by the Panthers Saturday night, but also in the standings. Depending on the outcome of the Carolina/Florida game, the Caps could find themselves in a tie for last in the Southeast Division should they loose.
As reported from Tarik El-Bashir, Alexander Ovechkin could be sporting a new visor tonight. Besides being "way cool", Tarik describes it as tinted with a blue iridium coating like you would find on a pair of Oakley sunglasses. It should be interesting to see the reaction he gets when he decides to wear it. His mirror-like visor was voted down last season by NHL general managers by a 29-1 vote.

Capitals' Prospects Update

A look at our European Prospects. Thanks to posters from the HFBoards for help with these updates:

• Nicklas Backstrom, the Caps' best prospect not currently playing for the team, has been out with the flu as of late but received some good news recently as he was named the rookie of the year by the Swedish Sport Academy. His latest statistics are 11 goals, 25 assists, and 36 points in 32 games for Brynas of the Swedish Elite League. That currently puts him 10th in the league in scoring. He also recorded 7 assists in 7 games during the Under-20 World Junior Championships.
  
• Simeon Varlamov led the Russian Under-20 team to a silver medal in the World Junior Championships. And by led I mean he was the main reason for the Russian's success as he posted a 1.51 gaa and a .934 save percentage. Varlamov was recently interviewed by www.russianprospects.com about being selected by the Caps in the first round of the 2006 NHL Draft.

At this summer’s NHL draft, you were chosen 23rd overall and were the first Russian player to be selected at the draft. Were you expecting this kind of success?
S. Varlamov: That’s the thing that I didn’t expect it at all! I didn’t even go to Vancouver for the draft and really regretted it later on. Who knew? I was very happy.

Playing in the NHL is my dream and I plan to go there in a year or two. You only get once chance to play in the best league in the world and I don’t want to lose it.

Are you afraid of the North American minor leagues?
S. Varlmaov: No. What is so scary about them? Bryzgalov spent five years in the AHL. Not everyone is capable of stepping into the NHL right away and you can’t get frustrated if you don’t make it right away. Work and more work is the only way to success. I read Bryzgalov’s interview in Soviet Sport where he says that he would advise Varlamov to spend some time in the minor leagues and I agree with him.


Hopefully this means we will be seeing Varlamov with the Hershey Bears sooner rather than later. Click here to read the rest of the interview.

• Sami Lepisto, a 2004 third-round selection, has only played in 6 games so far this season for Jokerit in Finland netting 1 goal and 3 assists for a total of 4 points.
• Peter Guggisberg, a 2004 sixth-round selection, has 3 goals, 4 assists, and 7 points in 32 games for Davos in Switzerland.
• Oscar Hedman, a 2004 fifth-round selection, has 2 goals, 2 assists, and 4 points in 38 games for MODO of the Swedish Elite League.
• Pasi Salonen, another 2004 fifth-round selection, has 4 goals, 4 assists, and 8 points for HIFK in Finland

Note: As I write this I am enjoying watching the Washington Redskins Super Bowl XXII victory over the Denver Broncos 42-10 as it is being replayed on the NFL network, a must have station for all you NFL fanatics out there. On a side note, when will the NHL network be coming to America?

Hershey Downs Albany

Hershey Bears 6, Albany River Rats 3
Win is 5th straight this season and 18th straight overall over the Rats.
Boxscore

Quintin Laing led the way with 2 goals and 2 assists as the Hershey Bears improved their record to 27-8-3-4, 61 points. The win pulled them back into a tie for first place in the East Division with idle Norfolk. Dave Steckel also added 2 goals and Tomas Fleichmann had 2 assists as the Bears won in their first home game of the new year in front of 9,383 fans at the Giant Center. River Rats' goalie Justin Peters had a short day as he was pulled at the 16:24 mark of the first period after allowing three goals on five shots. His counterpart Maxime Daigneault stopped 21 of 24 shots for his 12th win of the season.

Sunday Morning Reaction

Win or loose there is always a lesson to be learned. Some of the lessons that were learned last night.

• This team has a long way to go before they can just show up and compete based on their talent alone.
  
• They have not been playing Capitals hockey as of late. The entire league used to talk about how the Caps worked hard every night. How they would outplay their opponent even if they didn't win. So far the tread this New Year is that the Caps are being outplayed consistently, and are relying on Ovechkin and Semin to make spectacular plays in order to keep them in the game.
• The Caps have repeatedly gotten off to slow starts. Having to play catch-up in most games.
• The Panthers had the Caps well scouted. And executed their game plan to perfection. This is the type of performance that the rest of the league can look at and emulate. The Capitals will need to make adjustments in their scheme as well as individually.
• Sometimes a game like this can be a good thing in the long run. Hopefully it will cause the team to refocus and analyze the what they need to do to improve.
• Calling all fans of hockey: The NHL is back on NBC, and let's face it, they are desperate for ratings. Their first broadcast yesterday saw on intensely competitive game between the Flyers and Penguins. The addition of Brett Hull to the broadcast booth also provided a much needed boost to the analysis of the game.
  
• A great article from Linda Cohn about the NHL schedule. Click here to read.
  

Down on the Farm:
The Hershey Bears finished up their season-long five game road trip with a 5-2 loss at Bridgeport. The Bears were playing with a depleted lineup as six players were absent from the lineup. Trevor Byrne, Dean Arsene, Matt Hendricks, Chad Wiseman, and Sasha Pokulok all missed Friday's game in addition to last night's tilt. Pete Vandermeer suffered a broken leg Friday and will be out indefinitely. The lone bright spot of the night was the performance of Alexandre Giroux, who accounted for both Bears' scores giving him 29 goals on the season. He is currently tied for second in the AHL in goals. The Hershey Bears return to action this evening at home against the Albany River Rats, game-time 5:00 PM. If you are able to get to the game the first 5,000 fans through the gates Sunday will receive a free team photograph of the 2006-07 team. Or visit http://www.hersheypa.com/events/hershey_bears/index.php to catch all the action live online via b2networks.
The South Carolina Stingrays avenged Friday night's loss by defeating the first place Florida Everblades 5-3 in front of 6,453 fans at Germain Arena. The Stingrays were led by their Captain Cail MacLean and Capitals prospect Viktor Dovgan who each netted two goals in route to the victory. From Stingrayshockey.com: “We challenged the guys in the second intermission and they responded perfectly,” South Carolina coach Jason Fitzsimmons said. “Dovgan was flying and got rewarded with a pair of goals. It’s nice to head into the All-Star break on a positive note.” The Stingrays return to action on Friday with a game at the Charlotte Checkers, game-time 7:00 PM.

Caps Take Vacation in Florida

Florida Panthers 7, Washington Capitals 3
A second consecutive sloppy outing drops the Capitals back to .500.

They were outplayed from the moment the puck dropped. The Panthers took advantage of Washington's slow start and jumped out to a 2-0 lead by the end of the first period. If not for the play of Olaf Kolzig the game would have been already out of hand by that point.
Godzilla kept them in the game and following an Alexander Semin goal halfway through the second period, the Caps looked as though they would make a comeback. It was the fifth consecutive game that Semin had scored, netting his 25th goal of the season and NHL leading 8th of January. The goal was also the 18th time in the last 21 games that either Semin or Alex Ovechkin had scored for the Caps.
But as was the case on Thursday night in Tampa, the Capitals could not keep the momentum on their side. Towards the later part of the second period the Panthers pumped three goals past Kolzig in five minutes and took a 5-1 lead into the intermission. If that didn't dampen the hopes of the Caps getting back into the game, an early third period goal by Stephen Weiss would take care of the rest, putting the game out of reach for good. Weiss would later complete his first career hat trick on the power play netting his 11th goal of the season.
The bright spot for the Capitals was an excellent individual effort by Matt Pettinger, scoring on a short handed breakaway halfway through the third period for his 11th goal of the season. Chris Clark would add his 16th goal of the season in the closing moments of the game.
As can be expected in this type of a game, a number of Capitals' players were exploited. The Panthers seemed to have an excellent scouting report on the Caps and executed their game plan to perfection. Lawrence Nycholat was attacked repeatedly in the first period by the Panthers, who chose a dump and chase style followed by an intense forecheck, to knock him to the ice on numerous occasions. It will be interesting to see if other teams will try this approach as well to take advantage of Nycholat's small stature.
Game Notes: Jakub Klepis was a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game. He has not dressed since Matt Bradley returned from injured reserve. John Erskine, Bryan Muir, and Richard Zednik remain on IR. The Capitals gave up 54 shots on goal including 27 in the second period alone. Backup goaltender Brent Johnson replaced Olaf Kolzig at the beginning of the third period. The Panthers win was only their 3rd in 15 division games so far this year. The Caps lost their 5th straight road game.

All-Star Snub

Alexander Semin (24g-19a-43p, 40 games) and Olaf Kolzig (15-13-4, 3.07 gaa, .909 sv%) were certainly deserving of a spot on the All-Star team, but they were left off as the complete rosters were announced today. The NHL is always looking for ways to promote the game. He's an idea, how about using the All-Star game to promote how exciting the game can be by including star play makers such as Semin and fellow countryman Ilya Kovalchuk. I mean who would you rather see in the All-Star game?
(Mike Green was chosen to represent the Caps in the Young Stars game. Click here to see the rest of the roster for this game.)
Here is the list of the chosen ones. Some must have discriminating photos of Gary Bettman.

Eastern Conference All-Stars

Starters:
F Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins (21g-44a-65p, 39 games)
F Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals (28g-33a-61p, 44 games)
F Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres (16g-35a-51p, 44 games)
D Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres ( 5g-21a-26p, 44 games)
D Sheldon Souray, Montreal Canadians (14g-23a-37p, 43 games)
G Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres (22-7-2, 2.62 gaa, .916 sv%)

Reserves:
G Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils (26-13-3, 2.07 gaa, .927 sv%)
G Cristobal Huet, Montreal Canadians (17-8-3, 2.45 gaa, .927 sv%)
D Jay Bouwmeester, Florida Panthers ( 6g-16a-22p, 46 games)
D Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins ( 8g-18a-26p, 39 games)
D Tomas Kaberle, Toronto Maple Leafs ( 8g-29a-37p, 45 games)
D Brian Rafalski, New Jersey Devils ( 2g-27a-29p, 44 games)
F Jason Blake, New York Islanders (23g-18a-41p, 43 games)
F Simon Gagne, Philadelphia Flyers (20g-13a-33p, 44 games)
F Danny Heatley, Ottawa Senators (27g-31a-58p, 46 games)
F Vincent Lecavalier, Tampa Bay Lightning (26g-33a-59p, 45 games)
F Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay Lightning (28g-31a-59p, 45 games)
F Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers (24g-22a-46p, 45 games)
F Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes (19g-18a-37p, 46 games)
F Justin Williams, Carolina Hurricanes (21g-20a-41p, 46 games)

Western Conference All-Stars

Starters:
F Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks (11g-42a-53p, 44 games)
F Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche (18g-29a-47p, 43 games)
F Jonathan Cheechoo, San Jose Sharks (14g-15a-29p, 38 games)
D Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Ducks ( 8g-34a-42p, 46 games)
D Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings ( 9g-26a-35p, 44 games)
G Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks (24-16-1, 2.50 gaa, .913 sv%)

Reserves:
G Mikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames (21-14-3, 2.32 gaa, .921 sv%)
G Marty Turco, Dallas Stars (21-15-1, 2.34 gaa, .910 sv%)
D Philippe Boucher, Dallas Stars (13g-20a-33p, 44 games)
D Kimmo Timonen, Nashville Predators ( 8g-23a-31p, 44 games)
D Lubomir Visnovsky, Los Angeles Kings (13g-23a-36p, 43 games)
F Bill Guerin, St. Louis Blues (18g-13a-31p, 42 games)
F Martin Havlat, Chicago Blackhawks (13g-13a-26p, 21 games)
F Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks (20g-26a-46p, 44 games)
F Rick Nash, Columbus Blue Jackets(13g-17a-30p, 39 games)
F Yanic Perreault, Phoenix Coyotes (14g-11a-25p, 31 games)
F Brian Rolston, Minnesota Wild (23g-18a-41p, 45 games)
F Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks (28g-29a-57p, 46 games)
F Ryan Smyth, Edmonton Oilers (21g-12a-33p, 34 games)
F Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings (17g-16a-33p, 44 games)

Caps/Panthers Preview

Washington Capitals (19-18-7, 45 points) at Florida Panthers (16-21-9, 41 points)
TV: CW Network (WDCW 50)
Radio: WTNT 570-AM
Time: 7:30 PM

The Caps will try to right their ship tonight in the second game of their season long four game road trip from the sunshine state. Hopefully the warm weather in Miami will add fuel their fire as the key to the game will again be to get off to a quick start, something this team has had trouble doing as of late. Florida has started to turn their season around recently, posting a 6-3-3 mark in their last twelve games. However, the Caps should be able to take advantage of a tired Panthers squad who will play their third game in four nights. Not a must win game, but definitely a team the Capitals should beat. They are currently in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, just one point behind both Tampa Bay and Toronto who are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot.

Now for some more morning thoughts:

• Time to call Kris Beech out. This could be one of your last opportunities to prove that you belong not only with the Capitals but in the NHL altogether. If his play continues to falter, look for the Caps to make acquiring a second line center for the stretch run their number one priority.
• What will Donald Brashear have in store for us tonight? After his impressive assist on Ben Clymer's goal against Tampa on Thursday night, and a goal against his former team on Tuesday, how about a Gordie Howe hat trick for an encore?
• Can Alexander Semin continue on his tear and add another two goal game to his resume? He's closing in fast on the NHL leaders in goals.
• I would assume that Brent Johnson would get the start tonight. After signing his extension yesterday, hopefully "Jonny" will be on the spot.

Down on the Farm:
An excellent performance for Caps goaltending prospect Maxime Daigneault as he turned away all 30 shots he faced during the 65 minutes of regulation and overtime, then stopped all 4 shootout attempts as the Hershey Bears defeated the Binghamton Senators 1-0. Kyle Wilson and Eric Fehr scored in the shootout to secure the win ending the Bears' season long three game losing streak. The game marked the halfway point of the season for Hershey whose is tied with Norfolk for the division lead with 59 points. They travel to Bridgeport tonight to take on the Sound Tigers. Gametime 7:00 PM. Visit www.hersheypa.com/events/hershey_bears/ to catch all the live action from b2networks.
Looks as though things are not going well for Sasha Pokulok as he tries to return from a severe concussion he received during the first game of the season. Click here for the full article about his condition from pennlive.com.
The South Carolina Stingrays fell 2-1 at the Florida Everblades last night. They will try to get a different result in a rematch tonight at 7:30 PM from Germain Arena. Visit www.stingrayshockey.com to catch all the live action from b2networks.

Thanks to The Kevin Hatcher Fan Club for his honor of Capital Fanatic being the 23rd blog added to his "Other Caps Blogs" links.

Capital Fanatic

Caps Re-Sign Brent Johnson

Goalie gets 2 year $1.625 million extension

Interesting timing on the announcement of this deal. But never the less a very good signing in my opinion. Johnson is a very good backup goaltender who, given the opportunity, could become a solid starter as well. When Johnson is in the game the team doesn't skip a beat. He, like Kolzig, has the ability to be dominating at times. And, forgetting the Buffalo game all together, during the course of the season has looked better than his counterpart on occasion. He is also an outstanding presence in the locker room, something that can not be taken for granted. He was resigned last summer for right around the NHL minimum. A good value player in this day of over payed athletes.

Morning Thoughts

• I hope losing games like this, not only because of the way they played, but also because of the team they lost too, puts a sour taste in their mouth like it does to me.
  
• Kolzig, in a stand up act as always, took the blame for the loss. He did not play up to his standards, but if the Caps want to be a playoff team they can not always count on Kolzig to save the day in order for them to win. A better defensive effort would've helped.
• Speaking of the defense can you guess who has led the team in minutes the past 4 games? None other than Lawrence Nycholat who appears to be here to stay. Yesterday was also his 10th game of the season since being recalled to the Capitals meaning that if he were to be sent down to Hershey he would now need to pass through waivers. Not going to happen.
• Brian Pothier has been a negative +/- player in 6 of his last 9 games. Not a good trend.
• Sill haven't been able to find out any information on when John Erskine or Bryan Muir will be back. When they do come back the Caps will be faced with some serious roster issues. Somebody will be on their way out. Jamie Heward seems to be the likely man.
• It was good to hear from reports yesterday that Richard Zednik had a good practice with the team in the afternoon. He seems to be ahead of schedule on his recovery from a severe groin injury. Look for him to return around the all-star break.
• Brian Sutherby won 10 out of his 13 faceoffs last night. Impressive.
• Is it me or has anyone else not noticed Kris Beech in the last few games? After a hot December he seems to be reverting back to his AHL form.
  
• Alexander Semin is now tied for 7th in the NHL in goals with 24. Can we say all-star?

Down on the farm:
The Hershey Bears have signed Kyle Wilson to an AHL contract for the rest of the season. Wilson, a four-year standout for the Colgate University, scored 23 goals in 39 games during his senior season in 2005-06. He scored one goal in seven games with San Antonio (AHL) earlier this season, and also skated with South Carolina (ECHL), scoring three goals in five games. Since being recalled from the Stingrays on December 1, he has compiled nine goals and nine assists for 18 points for the Bears, including two goals in his Hershey debut December 2 vs. Manitoba. He compiled points in eight straight games from December 20 to December 31.

The Bears will try to end their season long 3 game losing streak tonight when they travel to Binghamton to take on the Senators. Game time 7:05 PM. Visit www.hersheybears.com to watch the game live via b2networks.

The South Carolina Stingrays visit the 1st place Florida Everblades tonight at 7:30 PM. The Stingrays are currently in 4th place in the South Division with a record of 19-14-0-2, 40 points. Visit www.stingrayshockey.com to watch the game live via b2networks.

Capital Fanatic

Road Trip Opens With a Thud

Tampa Bay 5, Capitals 4

Brian Sutherby and Alex Ovechkin's collision in the third period symbolized the night for Washington. The Caps just couldn't seem to get on the same page as they started their season long road trip in Tampa. Every time they would get some momentum, the Lighting had the answer.

As they have been prone to do lately, the Caps got off to a lack-luster start. Surrendering an early questionable goal by Ryan Craig just 5 minutes in. Alexander Semin continued on his scoring tear by answering the Lightning with a power-play goal, one of his two goals on the night. But a turnover in their own zone led to a quick Vincent Levcavalier goal, one that Kolzig was visibly upset for giving up, and the 2-1 lead at the first intermission for the Lightning.

The second period was dominated early on by the Capitals. And a pretty pass from none other than Donald Brashear led Ben Clymer on a breakaway which he finished to put the Caps in front for the first time 3-2. But that lead would be short lived as just over a minute later the defense let them down again and Vinny Prospal put in his sixth of the season tying the game. Just a minute after that another turnover in their own zone led to Lecavalier's second goal of the game. At the end of the period Ovechkin would lead a break into the Lightning zone and his cross ice pass to captain Chris Clark who would beat Holmqvist and tie the score once again at 4-4 heading into the second intermission.

It would seem like the Caps would have all the momentum heading into the third period. But that momentum never materialized and it all went away when Marin St. Louis would put in his game winning 28th goal of the season tying Ovechkin for the league lead. Ending the hopes for the Caps on the night.

On the bright spot, it was another incredible performance put on by Alexander Semin. Where would the Caps be this year without Semin? He deserves a lot of credit in the improvement of the Caps this year, providing that secondary scoring touch that the team surely lacked last season. Should there be any justice at all, he also deserves to join Ovechkin with a spot on the All-Star team. Never the less, the Caps will need more of his help as they look to move back into the winning column when they take on the Florida Panthers Saturday night in Miami.

Notes: Caps enforcer Donald Brashear had another memorable fight battling it out with Tampa winger Andre Roy. Both players got there punches in but give the win to Brashear on the decision. Also, it was good to hear that Richard Zednik skated with the team during their daytime practice. The word is that he looks like he is ahead of schedule on his way back from a severe groin injury.

Capital Fanatic