Everyone wondered how the new Washington Capitals, obtained at the trade deadline, would mesh.  How long before any impact.  Answer, at least for one player, 24 hours.

Newcomer Scott Walker, obtained from Carolina for a 7th round draft pick, scored two goals, including the game winner, to help lift the Caps to their second consecutive win in as many nights, and start the post-Olympic break off at 2-0.  Both Walker goals were pretty backhands in front of the net.  It's called, net presence.  Best thing is, Walker had a total of three goals on the season, and nearly equaled that in his Caps debut.  Let's face it, there are no easy chances in Carolina.  But even further, you had to love the grittiness Walker brought to the ice.

Mike Knuble also continues his hot stick, scoring two goals as well, as the Capitals downed the Lightning 5-4 at the Verizon Center.  The Caps improved to 24-3-3 at home and improve to 43-13-8 on the season and hold a 14 point lead in the Eastern Conference over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Eric Fehr scored the game opening goal a little over the 6 minute mark on a nasty, Ovechkin-type slapper that went through Tampa goalie Mike Smith.  Speaking of Ovechkin, he was held scoreless last night, but you can't say Ovie did not have the opportunities.  Ovie had several scoring chances, some of them pretty significant, including a breakaway.  The bottom line last night was --- Mike Smith just has Ovechkin's number.  Tampa pest Steve Downie scored the equalizer half way through the first period.  Caps out shot Tampa in the first period 14-9.

Both Knuble goals came in the second period, 6 minutes apart to put the Capitals up 3-1.  They were goals 24 and 25 for Knuble, who has been the hottest Cap over the last 13 games.  Since January 26th, Knuble has netted 11 goals and added 6 helpers.  He has had 3 multi-goal games since that date.

Both Walker goals came in the third period, just 4 minutes apart.  They were goals 4 and 5 on the season for Walker.

Semyon Varlamov nabbed the win stopping  25 of 29 shots on goal.  He improves to 13-2 on the season.

Game Notes:

*  Kudos and cheers to Nicklas Backstrom.  Backstrom was instrumental in a second period penalty onslaught, including significant time with a 2 man advantage.  Backstrom broke his stick early in the two man advantage and blocked two shots, sacrificing his body. Again, he has proven, he is the ultimate gamer, period.  He brings much more than just passing and points to this Caps team.

*  The Caps defense failed to show up last night.  However, they can't be the blame for all 4 goals allowed.  Some of the goals were softies that Varlamov just has to stop.  Varly did very little to give Coach Bruce Boudreau the confidence to hand him the starting job over a ever consistent growing Jose Theodore.  That being said, the Caps defense simply sucked last night.

DCPSR Player(s) of the Game:  MIKE KNUBLE AND SCOTT WALKER

The Washington Capitals trailed 4-2 after two periods but mounted a furious comeback at home against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins and won 5-4 in overtime on a Mike Knuble tip-in off an Alex Ovechkin slap shot only moments into a power play. The Caps are now 2-0 this year against the Penguins, with more to come.

Sidney Crosby scored 2 goals, but the star of this snowed-in Washington day was Alex Ovechkin, who poured in 3 goals and added an assist on the game-winner. The game was filled with mistakes by the Caps and the refs, but the team stayed with it and Ovechkin's two 3rd period goals tied the game up. Playing well below their best, the Caps needed a superstar performance from the best player in the world...and that's just what they got.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images

TEAM STAT COMPARISON
176	Goals	225
166	Goals Against	155
38	Power Play Goals	59
39	Power Play Goals Allowed	47
6	Shorthanded Goals	3
6	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	6
793	Penalty Minutes	685
14	Average Penalty Minutes	12

SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD			PIT	WAS
6:59		Sidney Crosby  Unassisted	1	0
9:59		Sidney Crosby (Power Play)  Assists: Evgeni Malkin, Alex Goligoski	2	0
2ND PERIOD			PIT	WAS
9:01		Alex Ovechkin  Assists: Jeff Schultz	2	1
11:43		Jordan Staal  Assists: Tyler Kennedy, Matt Cooke	3	1
13:07		Jordan Staal  Assists: Evgeni Malkin	4	1
17:12		Eric Fehr  Assists: Brendan Morrison	4	2
3RD PERIOD			PIT	WAS
6:51		Alex Ovechkin  Assists: Tom Poti, Nicklas Backstrom	4	3
11:06		Alex Ovechkin  Assists: Mike Knuble, Nicklas Backstrom	4	4
OT			PIT	WAS
2:49		Mike Knuble (Power Play)  Assists: Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green	4	5

WoooooHoooo!  Make it 14 in a row, on National TV, with an Alex Ovechkin hat trick!  And dammit, I was suppose to be there and never made it.  But, I will take this beat down over the Pens with an Ovie hat trick any day.  Folks, this game was Super Bowl worthy, period!

What a game it was, despite just awful, awful coverage from NBC.  The NHL really has to put up and grovel back to ESPN, because NBC is simply horrendous.

The game did not start out all that well for the Caps as the NBC love-fest for everything Pens and Crosby got under way quickly 2 goals in the first period from Sidney Crosby.  Even though the Caps out shot the Pens in the first period, the two Crosby marker sent the Caps to the locker room with a 2-0 deficit.

Alexander Ovechkin scored his first of three, his 40th of the year, at the 9 minute mark of the second period.  It was a beautiful breakaway engineered by none other than Jeff Schultz, finding the open and streaking Ovechkin.  Schultzie has had the knack this season of finding the breakaways and making the perfect passes.  Then things went down hill, temporarily for the Caps, as Jordan Staal scored twice within 2 minutes of each, to give the Pens a stunning 4-1 lead.  But, as we have seen many, many times this year, you can never, ever count the Capitals out of any game.

Eric Fehr scored his 14th of the year to pull the Caps to within 2 at the end of the second period, Caps trailing 4-2.

Count the third period as pure Alex Ovechkin.  Ovechkin scored his 41st goal close to the 7 minute mark to pull within 4-3.  Later in the third period, Ovechkin took hard shot and look to be shaken up.  He came back on the ice and pounded away the game tying goal on the face off to send the Verizon Center into pandemonium. It was Ovechkin's first hat trick of the year, the Caps first hat trick of the year, on National TV, and right in front of Pittsburgh's #87.  Could it get anymore perfect than that.  And to think, Crosby did not even cry to the officials to tell fans to stop throwing hats this year.  Amazing.

Then in overtime, it was Ovechkin again, this time rocketing a shot at Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fluery, who let a rebound go and Mike Knuble, in front of the net, poked it in for the game winner.

Instead of just bashing Pittsburgh, let's instead say what we should say.  This was an outstandingly impressive display of hockey, on National TV on Super Bowl day.  It was a great game from start to finish, with both Superstar shining.  It was a good day for the NHL.  It was a great day for the Washington Capitals as they extended their impressive winning streak to 14 straight wins.  BUT, even better, it was the greatest day for the Washington faithful who managed to get to the Verizon Center.  Kudos to you all, we heard the loudness, we heard the Fury!

Great game again by Jose Theodore, by far, the superior goalie in Washington right now.  Yeah he gave uyp 4 goals.  But, this was Pittsburgh.  He made some sensational saves that saved the Caps becaise of poor turnovers.  It was not the best day for the Caps defense

What a great day for these Washington Capitals.

Multi-Point Scorers:

Nicklas Backstrom, 2 assists

Mike Knuble, 1 goal, 1 assist

Alexander Ovechkin, 3 goals, 1 assist

DCPSR Player of the Game:  ALEXANDER OVECHKIN

DISCUSS in our New Forums

The 2009/10 Washington Capitals have re-written franchise record books, beating the 1983-84 franchise win streak two nights ago, winning their 11th straight game, defeating Boston 4-1.  Tonight, the Caps take on the Rangers in New York to try and make it a perfect dozen.

If this is any indication, TV ratings for CSN will be good tonight.  Check out the article from our ever great blogger at the Post, Dan Steinberg at the DC Sports Bog.

Tuesday night's Comcast SportsNet broadcast of the Caps-Bruins game, in which Washington won 11 straight for the first time in franchise history, received a 3.24 average rating in the D.C. market, which translates into about 76,000 households. That was the second-best rating for a regular-season game in the network's history

Through the 52 games it has broadcast on CSN and CSN+, the network is averaging a 1.4 rating in the D.C. market. That's 24 percent higher than through the first 52 games a year ago, and 153 percent better than through the first 52 games of the 2007-08 season, which obviously started with a lot of losses.

What has been amazing is the success they have had, by spreading the scoring around, utilizing an effective power play, solid defense, in most cases, and when the Caps fell flat, like Detroit and Boston, goal tending rose to the task.  The Caps has not been perfect, but when one aspect, such as defense falters a bit, another rises.  A good sign for these a Caps heading into the Olympic Break.

Alexander Semin and Mike Knuble have really turned the offensive throttle up during this streak.  Semin has a 10 game scoring streak that includes 6 goals and 11 assists with 30 shots on goal.  Knuble has 9 goals and 3 assists in 25 shos on goal during this streak.

The Capitals’ second line has been hot. Semin, Tomas Fleischmann, and Brooks Laich have a combined 14 goals and 21 assists over the last 11.

It helps too that confidence on this team is at an all time high. And one thing is pretty clear, none of these guys is going to take sole credit.

" It's really a team thing," said goalie Jose Theodore, who made 41 saves in Tuesday night's 4-1 win over Boston. "The goalie has to be solid, the defensive play has to be there, and the special units. If you look back, some games the power play was the difference, other games the goalies made the big saves and other games it was the PK."

Game Preview:  Official Caps, NHL.com, CBS Sports, Yahoo Sports, WashingtonCaps Blog,  Caps Nut

A look at some numbers:

*  The Washington Capitals are an impressive 14-1 under Captain Ovechkin.

*  The Capitals have won 11 consecutive matches.  During those 11 wins, the Caps have won 7 straight at home and 4 straight on the road.

*  Capitals lead the Eastern Conference by 10 points over second place New Jersey and lead the Southeast Division by a whopping 25 points over Tampa Bay.

*  Alexander Semin has a current NHL high 10 game scoring streak.  During that stretch, he has put 30 shots on goal, scored 6 goals and added 11 helpers.

*  During the streak, the goalie tandem of Jose Theodore and Michal Neuvirth has stopped 351 shots of 369 shots on goal for an impressive save percentage of .951.  Want to be more impressed?  Over the last 6 games, they have stopped 188 of 193 shots for a whopping save percentage of .974.  Over the past 6 games, they have allowed 9 goals, a mere average of just 1.5 goals per game.

Caps Reads:

Knuble:  A force in front of the net (DC Examiner)

Do not mess with Alex Ovechkin (Sporting News)

Ted's book in Kindle Edition.  (Teds Take)  By the way Ted, just got the book deleivered from Amazon.com that I ordered on pre-order.  Any suggestion on time to read it?

Caps Clips from Japers' Rink (Japers' Rink)

Here is some on Gabby's book. (Love the Game, Don't like Puck Bunnies)

How high will the Caps soar? (Storming the Crease)