The Flyers come to downtown D.C. today having won four of its last five games, with their only loss in that span coming as a 4-0 shutout on Thursday against the team the Capitals defeated handily the night after to the tune of 6-1, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Today’s matchup will mark the fourth and final contest between these two teams during the regular season. In the previous three contest, the Capitals have scored 17 points, which was padded due to an 8-2 Capitals victory in Wachovia Center on Dec. 5th.

The Caps have won 10 out of the last 15 contest against the Flyers since the 2006-2007 season began.

1st Period Overview:

Despite thousands of empty seats, presumably due to the NFL’s Divisional playoff games, the energy filling the Verizon Center matches that of a full house.

The period can be summed up as a chess match for both teams, with each team going tit-for-tat with two goals apiece. The Flyers struck first with a Jeff Carter goal but the Capitals retaliated with a quick goal from former Flyer Mike Knuble. The chess match continued when Flyers left winger James Van Riemsdyk put the Flyers up 2-1. That lead didn’t last long when Brooks Laich scored his 12th goal of the season and evened the contest out at 2-2 with 6:32 left in the opening period.

It has been a very entertaining matchup so far in a game featuring two local rivals. Considering the fans of both teams feeding off of each other’s energy, it only looks to become more enticing as the day goes on.

Goals: PHI – 2 WAS – 2
Shots: PHI – 9 WAS – 8
Blocked Shots: PHI – 9 WAS – 6
Faceoffs Won: PHI – 10 – WAS – 11

2nd Period Overview:

Defense was the name of the game in the second period, with the only score coming seven minutes in.

Both the Capitals and the Flyers had just returned their fifth men on the ice following a 4-on-4 stretch with Washington’s Tyler Sloan and Philadelphia’s Scott Hartnell in their respective penalty boxes when Jeff Carter gave the Caps a 5-on-4 advantage by holding Sloan shortly after he left the box. Just seven seconds after Carter’s penalty, Alexander Semin gave the Caps a 3-2 lead with his 20th goal on the year.

The Capitals tightened up their defense, helping keep traffic away from Jose Theodore when he wasn’t making clutch saves. Washington was able to clear the puck at the right times and also increased their physicality, making their presence known to the Flyers on their own as opposed to just responding to the hits that Philadelphia was giving them.

Goals: PHI – 0 WAS – 1
Shots: PHI – 12 WAS – 9
Blocked Shots: PHI – 6 WAS – 6
Faceoffs Won: PHI – 10 – WAS – 13

3rd Period Overview (most of it):

Brooks Laich scored his second goal of the night on a beautiful backhanded shot to give the Caps a 4-2 lead 4:56 into the final period, giving the team much-needed momentum to close out the Flyers.

The score remains 4-2 with five minutes remaining.

The players have the day off today, and boy do they need it. They played three games in four nights, and I’m sure they are exhausted.

The Caps played four total games last week and went 2-0-2, netting six of a possible eight points. Atlanta was their only divisional opponent, and they won that game in regulation.

Washington is 8-2-4 for the season and currently holds a commanding lead in the Southeast division with 20 points, followed by Tampa Bay in second place with 12, and Atlanta with 11.

We got a lot of games to cover, so let’s get to the recap!

Tuesday, October 27th vs. the Flyers – The Caps have been a “strike first” team this season, but after being held scoreless in the first period they found themselves down 2-0 after allowing Philly to score twice in the second period. Washington bounced back by scoring four unanswered goals and carried their win streak to five games.

It wasn’t for lack of effort – Philly peppered the net with 43 shots on goal, but it was “No Way” Jose Theodore that slammed the door shut stopping 41 of those shots including 20 in the third period alone. Even though Theo’s career record for shots faced in a game is 47, the 43 he faced Tuesday night were the most he had ever faced as a Washington Capital.

Can’t keep a good team down – The Caps have only had to come from behind on multifocal deficits twice this season, and in both occasions they have come back to win it. The previous time was the game immediately preceding this one where they found themselves down to the Islanders. Brooks Laich scored the game winner in OT.

Thursday, October 29th @ the Thrashers…again – It had to feel like déjà vu for the Caps who had just faced this Thrasher team the previous Thursday…also in Atlanta. It had to feel like déjà vu for the Thrashers as well as they fell to the Caps again on home ice. The Caps, who knew they had to play another game in less than 24 hours tried to put this game away early so they could start resting up their players for Friday night’s game. In a classic example of why you never “look past” you current opponent the Caps watched a three-goal lead evaporate in the third period. Atlanta, being down 3-2 pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker. Mike Knuble had no idea his empty net goal would be the game winner (it made the score 4-2) as the Thrashers got what would have been the tying goal in the last 1/2 second of regulation, but by then it wasn’t enough and the Caps held on for the 4-3 win.

Define: “Four Point” game – When you beat a division opponent in regulation, it is referred to as a “four point” game. You gain two points in the standings for the win, and at the same time cost your opponents two points by preventing them from winning. To really see it, you need to look at the season standings. Washington held a 7-point lead in the Southeast division going into Thursday’s game. Two teams were tied for second; Atlanta and Tampa. At the end of the night, the Caps still had a seven point lead in the division (Tampa won their game), but now had a nine point lead over Atlanta.

Back on Track – After a short slump where he was held without a goal for two games Alex Ovechkin came back and scored four goals in two games including two here versus Atlanta to give him 13 goals in 12 games.

Friday, October 30th vs. the Islanders – While the Caps were in Atlanta tangling with the Thrashers, the Islanders were in Washington helping themselves to whatever the Caps had in the fridge and kicking their feet up onto the coffee table. The Caps may have had the home ice advantage, but considering that they had just finished playing a game the night before, it was New York that had the advantage. The Caps kept it close and even held the lead a few times throughout the game, but just couldn’t seem to shake the Islanders and ultimately fell to them in OT by the final score of 4-3.

THN on Ice – Our own Jake Russell was at the game Friday night posting a live blog from the press box. Click here to check out his blog and video interviews after the game.

Sunday, November 1^st vs. the Blue Jackets – Even though the Caps lost Alex Ovechkin early in the second period, they weren’t going to go down without a fight. After scoring the game’s first goal, they found themselves trailing 2-1 at the beginning of the third period. Brooks Laich stepped up and scored the game tying and go-ahead goals putting the Caps up 3-2. A short while later Raffi Torres tied it up, but the Caps regained their lead when Quintin Lang scored with a little more than three minutes left to play in regulation. With less than half a minute to go in regulation, it was Torres who brought the score even at four and forced overtime where the Caps would fall 5-4.

Sometimes, it’s just not going to be your day – Jose Theodore played a great game, but was victimized by two unfortunate incidents that lead to goals. The first of which was in the second period when Theo went behind the net to play the puck, only to have the puck take an unusual bounce away from him, back towards the front of the net and straight to R. J. Umberger who stashed it home. The second came midway through the third where Theo had his stick knocked out of his hand as he slid left to protect against the wrap-around he had nothing to defend his right side where Raffi Torres was waiting to tap the puck in on the now stickless stick-side.

Coming Up – The Caps have three games this week starting Wednesday night in New Jersey. They then go to Florida to face the Panthers on Friday, and bring them back to DC for another meeting on Saturday.

In the meantime, we’ll all be crossing our fingers on Ovechkin!

C-A-P-S, Caps! Caps! Caps!

Mike Richards opened the scoring for Philadelphia on the power play; he parked himself off to the left of the net, deep in the zone, and defenseman Matt Carle picked him out with a diagonal pass through the Caps zone. Richards fired the puck into the net from an obtuse angle, and the Flyers had a 1-0 lead.

It didn’t stay that way for long, as the Capitals evened the score at 1-1 with a goal from who else? Alex Ovechkin. Ovie kicked a Matt Bradley pass up to his stick and quickly snapped the puck past goaltender Ray Emery, to notch his fourth goal in three games. Nicklas Backstrom and Bradley were credited with assists, but give one to Coach Bruce Boudreau as well – who made a great change on the fly to get Ovechkin on the ice against the Flyers fourth line.

Less than two minutes later, the Flyers were back on top when Kimmo Timonen beat Semyon Varlamov on a shot from the point. The Flyers were a man up as the Caps were going to be called for a delayed penalty, and Timonen took advantage of a heavily screened Varlamov.

Three minutes after that, the Caps evened the score at 2-2 with another goal from Ovechkin – his fifth of the season. The Russian superstar pressured Chris Pronger into a giveaway in his own zone, and Backstrom picked up the loose puck and hit Ovechkin who was driving for the net and beat Emery with a backhand.

The game settled down for a few minutes before Alexander Semin put Washington up 3-2 on a fabulous individual effort. Entering the Flyer zone, Semin dangled the puck in front of the Flyer defenseman Braydon Coburn, before undressing him with a beautiful curl drag move, and then beating Emery.

Then Flyers captain Richards took over; he took advantage of yet another Caps penalty and notched his second power play goal of the game. Just 18 seconds later, Richards scored again to give the Flyers a 4-3 lead, and notching just his second career NHL hat trick. In fact, Richards was the first Flyer to score a hat trick BEFORE the start of the third period since John Leclair. Richards’ third goal also changed Caps goalie Varlamov from the game, and Jose Theodore took over.

Seven goals in less than 15 minutes of second period action – four by Philly and three by Washington – the pace was frenetic. Flyers defenseman Matt Carle assisted on all four goals and in the process, set a club record and tied an NHL mark for defensemen with four assists in the second period (Rob Blake also did it on Jan. 29, 1998).

In the third, it was Washington’s turn to capitalize on a man advantage; Semin snapped home his second of the game with Backstrom picking up his third assist, and Ovechkin getting the other.

Brendan Morrisson scored just 1:14 later when he tipped in a Matt Bradley shot to put the Caps back on top 5-4 half-way through the period.

It stayed that way until Scott Hartnell pushed a Coburn rebound past Theodore, on yet another Flyers power play with 4:15 to go, forcing overtime.

Birthday boy Briere scored the game winner at 3:45 of overtime, and give the Flyers  the victory at the Wachovia Center.

After the game, it was obvious what Caps Coach Bruce Boudreau attributed the loss to:

“I think you take eight minors in a game, and you’re not going to win a game. Six in one period. That’s how four goals get scored against you, when you get six penalties in a period. That’s just not acceptable.”

The Caps actually took nine minor penalties – ten if you count the delayed penalty that Philadelphia scored on.

When asked about his decision to pull his goaltender, Boudreau offered:

“Varlamov gets scored on in bunches. He gets down on himself, and we’ve gotta get him out of that.”

The game pitted two of the NHL’s best teams against each other, and it didn’t disappoint despite the hype; it was a high-flying affair from start to finish – well at least from the second period on.

Many consider the Flyers to be a front runner for Stanley’s Cup, and with better goaltending, the Caps are right there; so while a loss is a loss, Boudreau and the organization should be happy with the level of play that the Capitals are displaying early in the season.

Next up for Washington is the New York Rangers on Thursday at the Verizon Center.

Game Notes:

It was the third time in three games that Ovechkin has scored three points – only two other NHL players have ever opened the season with three or more points in the first three games – Peter Stastny and Guy Lafleur.

Backstrom has eight assists in the Caps first three games.

Matt Bradley had a fight in the first period with tough guy Ian LaPerriere, after Laperriere unceremoniously dumped Caps defender Mike Green into the boards. It’s always great to see a guy that doesn’t usually fight, drop the gloves to defend one of the team’s superstars. Kudos to Bradley – that’s leadership.

Check out video from the game and post game interviews here.

With their win, the Bears took a 2-0 lead in the Calder Cup Eastern Division Semifinals, with the series headed back to the Giant Center for games three and four.

The Phantoms struck first and fast, only 53 seconds after the opening faceoff, giving the Phantoms a 1-0 lead when former Bear, Boyd Kane, backhanded a shot behind Hershey netminder, Michal Neuvirth.

Patrick Maroon doubled Philly’s lead at 6:42, gathering in a rebound off the backboards and depositing the puck into Hershey’s cage.

Even though his team was down, Neuvirth didn’t become despondent in the trying situation and proved that he was back on track by making a slick sliding save on Laliberte at 17:10 to keep it a one-goal game entering the second period.

“I just told myself it was a couple bad bounces, and I was trying to stay focused the whole time,” said Neuvirth. “I know I can bounce back from that situation.”

Bears’ captain, Bryan Helmer, demonstrated his leadership by nudging his team back into the game with his first playoff goal since May 16, 2006 with Grand Rapids at the expense of former Bears netminder, Maxime Ouellet.

“When you look at our team, we’ve got a lot of good character guys and a lot of guys who can score goals, so we’re never out of the game,” said Helmer.

Staffan Kronwall’s power play blast at 14:58 of the second period, the only goal of the stanza, tied the score at 2-2.

Hershey penalty kill unit was up to the task early in the third period, preventing the Phantoms from regaining the lead, when Greg Amadio was serving a slashing penalty incurred at 20:00 of the second period.

On their first power play of the third period, Hershey’s Alexandre Giroux, after a couple misfires, eventually guided a missile of a shot by Phantoms’ keeper, Scott Munroe, at 2:27 to give the Bears a 3-2 lead.

“If I would have gotten all of the first one, I would have beaten him,” Giroux said. “On the second one, the guy lost his stick and I tried to walk in, and he stopped it. Aucoin and Mink made a great play down low to get me the puck and we finally got it in.”

Shortly after Giroux’s tally, James van Riemsdyk’s shot found it’s way behind Neuvirth, but the rookie goalie somehow swept the puck off the goal line and out of danger to preserve the precarious one-goal lead.

Matthieu Perreault put the game out of reach for the Phantoms with his unassisted strike at 13:52, after going end-to-end.

“I just got the puck behind my net and skated up the ice like I like to do,” Perreault said. “I saw the open space and in the playoffs, you try to shoot as much as you can, and I shot at the net and scored.”

Steve Pinizzotto’s empty net goal and Francois Bouchard’s power play goal provided the icing on the cake for the Bears, and ensured them a comfortable margin of victory.

Helmer, a veteran that has seen many playoff situations, while happy with the result of the game and his contribution to the triumph, kept his emotions in check.

“When I can chip in offensively, it’s a good night and it’s nice; but it’s a long way from being over.”

Your top-3 seeds in the East are

1 – Boston
2 – Washington
3 – New Jersey

Seeds 4, 5, and 6 will be determined this weekend but will include Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Carolina

Seeds 7 and 8 will go to either New York or Montreal.

So who’s ready to play the playoff picture game?

If the season ended today, your match-ups would be

Bruins vs. Canadiens
Capitals vs. Rangers
Devils vs. Penguins
Flyers vs. Hurricanes

Caps fans will be pleased to see this, because it means there is a chance they may not have to face either Philly or Pittsburgh in the playoffs.

Now here’s the rub.

Philly technically has the fourth seed right now because they are a game up on Pittsburgh and Carolina (even though all three are tied in points and Philly has fewer wins). That extra game comes tomorrow in New York versus the Islanders.

Carolina technically has the fifth seed over Pittsburgh because they have one more win than the Penguins do (even though they are tied in points) and they face the third seeded Devils tomorrow.

The Rangers technically have the seventh seed because they have one more win than Montreal (even though they are also tied in points), and they face Philly on Sunday. The Rangers 2-1 win over Philly last night was huge, and when they face Philly on Sunday, it will be the Flyers third game in four days.

Pittsburgh and Montreal square off tomorrow.

So, each of the bottom five teams are facing a playoff opponent this weekend!

Games I’ll be Watching:

4/11 – 1:00pm – Carolina at New Jersey
Carolina needs the points more than New Jersey and after a humiliating loss to Buffalo ended their nine-game winning streak they’ll be spoiling for a fight. For Carolina this could mean the difference between the sixth and fourth seeds. New Jersey is already locked in as the third seed, but shouldn’t want to take their foot off the gas now when they are one game away from the playoffs.

4/11 – 2:00pm – Philadelphia at New York Islanders
The Isles have nothing to play for. They lost their pride a few nights ago when they dropped one to Carolina in a 9-0 shutout. Sure, they’ll be in front of their hometown fans (what’s left of them) but I don’t see that slowing down the Flyers at all. I won’t be watching this one as much as keeping an eye on it. The only chance New York has here is if the Flyers overlook them and forget what time the game starts. The Flyers may not want to leave it all on the ice in this game as they play again the very next day. Of course, the Islanders are in the same boat as they have to turn around and face Boston the next day.

4/11 – 7:00pm – Washington at Florida
No playoff implications here, I just enjoy watching the Capitals. Much like New Jersey, the Caps playoff spot is secure. The Caps are one game away from a franchise record for most wins in a single season, and Boudreau is going to want them to finish the season strong. Florida is playing in front of their hometown fans, and may just like to play spoiler.

4/11 – 7:00 – Pittsburgh at Montreal
This will be a good matchup as Montreal will be at home in front of their home fans and *ahem* their home officials. Both teams need the points. For Montreal it means the difference between seventh or eighth seed, For Pittsburgh it could mean the difference between sixth and fourth.

4/12 – 5:00pm – New York Rangers at Philadelphia
If Carolina and Pittsburgh both lose in regulation, the Flyers may not need this game, but New York will to secure the seventh seed. If Montreal loses in regulation, the Rangers won’t need this game, but Philly might (depending on whether or not they beat the Islanders) to secure the fourth seed.

There are far too many playoff scenarios to determine what the actual picture will be, but rest assured it’ll be fun to watch!

The rookie game is free, as is all of the on-ice sessions during rookie camp, but you most visit WashingtonCaps.com to secure your free “ticket” to gain admission. Because of the limited seating available at Kettler, there will be a maximum of 2 tickets per person, and obviously on a first-come, first-serve basis. Also, and again because of the limited seating, your ticket won’t necessarily get you a seat, so be sure to get there early, and grab a chunk of bench as soon as you get there to make sure you get to see the action.

Online ticketing will begin Thursday, September 4. Be sure to bring the original ticket you print when your RSVP. Phtocopies will not be accepted. To get in, park in the Ballston Commons mall parking garage and take the elevator to the 8th floor.

Upon the completion of rookie camp, the veterans and a select group of prospects will report for Caps training camp on September 20. All on-ice sessions are open to the public and free of charge. If you’ve never been to a Caps training camp session, I highly recommend doing so. You’ll get a perspective of the game you’ve never had before, and from a vantage point few get without strapping on the pads on skating yourself or chelling out some cash for lower-lower level seats at Verizon.