The week before last, the Washington Capitals went 0-2-1. It looked like they trend would continue when they kicked their week off last week with an overtime loss to New Jersey. Instead they bounced back against a team they hadn’t beaten since 1999, the San Jose Sharks. The Caps rounded out their week Saturday night by edging Nashville in the shootout and finished 2-1-0 for the week.

Alex Ovechkin added four goals to his already impressive five for the season and has scored a total of nine goals in eight games. Ovechkin, who lead the league with 56 goals last year, didn’t score his ninth goal until his 19th game last season. At his current rate Ovechkin is on pace to score 82 goals in 82 games.

Let’s get to some recapping!

Monday, October 12th vs. New Jersey - The Caps jumped out to a two goal lead midway through the first period. Devil’s goalie Marty Brodeur locked up his crease after that by refusing to allow the Caps to add to their lead. Meanwhile, his teammates kept working and snuck back into the game getting the tying goal midway through the third period. Try as they might the Caps could not avoid overtime and ultimately fell in the shootout following a scoreless overtime period.

Looked Laich it hurt - With the Devils already a man short, Marty Brodeur gave the Caps a two-man advantage 5:12 into the third period when he slapped Brooks Laich square in the face with his goalie paddle. The hit was unintentional as Brodeur was trying to bat the puck from mid-air, but I’m sure that didn’t make it hurt any less!

They say it’s your Birthday - Mike Green turned 24 on Monday and celebrated by ending his scoring drought early in the first period; his first goal of the season. Mike Green, known as “Game-Over” Green, lead all defensemen in goals last season with 31, but has been in a slump that started shortly before the playoffs.

Thursday, October 15th vs. San Jose - Having lost four straight the Caps were now facing an opponent they hadn’t beat in over a decade. The Sharks brutalized Washington last year in San Jose by a score of 6-2; this time it was Washington’s turn to be inhospitable. The Caps scored first, but San Jose came right back to tie it up and the first period ended with the teams tied at one. When the Caps returned to start the second period they did so without their starting netminder as Jose Theodore had fallen to an injury. Semyon Varlamov, who had been victimized earlier in the season, would need to come in and finish the game for the fallen Theodore. Semyon’s teammates made sure he wouldn’t be alone. Playing their best game since their first versus the Bruins, the Caps finally played the kind of two-way hockey we had been looking for from them all season. With two goals from Ovechkin in the second period, and a final goal in the third by Matt Bradley, the Caps
sent the Sharks packing; winning 4-1.

Was that fast? It looked fast. Was it fast? - Alex Ovechkin scored at the 2:55 mark of the second period to give the Caps a one goal lead over San Jose. He only needed :28 seconds to make it a two goal lead, scoring at the 3:23 mark.

One list ends; a new list begins - While we are on the topic of Ovechkin, he has now scratched San Jose off his list of teams he has scored a goal against. He has now scored at least one goal against every team in the NHL. His second goal allowed him to scratch San Jose off his next list. The only teams he has not scored TWO goals against are Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Los Angeles, and Minnesota.

For more Caps coverage of their amazing win versus San Jose, check out these articles exclusively on TheHogs.net

http://www.thehogs.net/blogs/2009/10/16/caps-dominate-sharks-end-slide/

http://www.thehogs.net/blogs/2009/10/16/by-the-numbers-caps-4-sharks-1/

Saturday, October 17 vs Nashville – Last season the Capitals faced Nashville twice taking both games into OT. The Caps won both of those games; one in OT and the other in a shootout. They kept that streak alive by downing the Predators once again in the shootout. Again, the star of the game was one Alex Ovechkin who notched not only both the team’s regulation goals, but also scored the only goal of the shootout to win. Semyon Varlamov got the nod again for the still injured Jose Theodore and things were looking pretty good from the start for the Caps; then they got sloppy. No one was immune from the sloppiness for the Caps including Varlamov who stonewalled two breakaway attempts in the first, but let in a flukey game tying goal. In the end though, it was the glove hand of Varlamov that closed the door on Nashville and held them scoreless in his first career shootout.

Hats off…even so – Alex Ovechkin scored the team’s only two goals in regulation, and the team’s only goal in the shoot-out. Shoot-out goals do not count towards a player’s stats, but that didn’t stop fans from sending their hat’s out on the ice to celebrate Ovie’s “unofficial” hat-trick.

That’s gratitude for you – The Washington Capitals selected Semyon Varlamov with a draft pick they had received from Nashville.

A little Ovie makes everything better – Mike Knuble may see a career high in assists this year. His 5 assists put him on pace for 51 for the year; which would be 20 more than he’s ever had in his 12-year career.

Washington has a slow week this week with only two opponents.

Thursday @ Atlanta, 7:00pm

Saturday @ New York Islanders, 7:00pm

Get in line – With top-line winger Viktor Kozlov sidelined, coach Bruce Boudreau will have some line shuffling to do for Thursday’s game at rival Pittsburgh . He has to find a replacement to fill Kozlov’s top-line minutes and then finalize the rest of his lineup. Boudreau could insert Eric Fehr, who has not played in the first three games, into the top line to skate with Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom or he could move captain Chris Clark from the third line to the first line. Clark has top line experience and netted a career high 30 goals two years ago when he skated with Ovechkin. Fehr skated on the first line with Ovechkin and Backstrom for a few games last year and would add a big body to replace Kozlov. Boudreau must also decide before Thursday’s tilt where Sergei Fedorov will play against the Pens. He played the first two games of the season at center, but was a +3 on Monday when he played defense against Vancouver .

A nemesis returns – Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo is one of the best goaltenders in the league and seems to play his best against Washington . The Capitals know Luongo well from his days as a Florida Panther, and have not posted a win against him since Feb. 27, 2004 ( Washington is 0-7-3 against him since, including two shutouts). Luongo and the Canucks topped the Caps 3-2 last year in Verizon Center . Luongo is 2-0-0 this year and has a .947 save percentage and a 1.94 GAA in wins against the Calgary Flames. The Caps enter tonight’s contest after taking 43 and 34 shots in their first two games of the season en route to scoring four goals in each.