Last night, the Capitals beat the Devils 4-1, with the goals credited to Ovechkin, Bradley, Backstrom, and Green. Poti did not play last night due to an injury, not that I’m complaining, and Pothier was still out as well. Neuvirth was in goal and earned himself his third straight win in goal. The win put them back up on top of the league by one point, with the Devils, Blackhawks, Penguins, and Sharks tied at 53. The Capitals are now on a three game winning streak, one that will hopefully last for a few more games. Tomorrow, the Capitals play the Hurricanes at Verizon before setting out on the road against the Sharks and the Kings.
In my opinion, Nicklas earned himself the title of Weagle scout, for the second time in row. He had two assists in last night’s game as well as a beautiful goal in the second period. It was his ninth goal of December. He has racked up a total of eleven goals and eleven assists in his last thirteen games. Nicklas was also the first star of last night’s game, followed by Ovechkin and Steckel.
In non-Capitals news, the Hershey Bears won their game last night against the Syracuse Crunch. This, too, was a 4-1 win, with Wilson and Bouchard scoring once and Perreault scoring twice. Holtby was in goal, making 33 saves and earning himself the first star of the game. Also, Boyd Gordon is up in Hershey for conditioning before returning to Washington. He has been out since October with a back injury. He was attributed with the assist on Wilson’s goal. This was Hershey’s fifth straight win.
In other news, Semin signed a one-year, six million extension with the Washington Capitals. Much speculation has been racing through blogs and on Twitter about the one-year deal because, with a player like Semin, it is unusual to not lock up a mutliple year deal. Dmitry Chesnokov over at Puck Daddy has an article about the extension, accompanied by an interview with both Semin and his agent.
The Capitals may be putting their focus on Backstrom, which, considering how he’s been playing lately, may be a wise thing to do.
Speaking of Nicklas, he’s made Sweden’s Olympic roster! The rest of the roster is no surprise, with players such as Holmström, Lindstrom, Lundqvist, Zetterberg, Forsberg, the Sedin twins, Kronwell, etc. The full roster as well as an analysis can be found at Puck Daddy.
Also, the Russia’s roster was announced on Christmas and, like Sweden, the expected players have made it, including Ovechkin, Semin, and Varlamov as well as former Capitals Fedorov and Kozlov. The full roster as well as an analysis can be found at Puck Daddy.
In much more exciting news, Meghan returns tonight and we’re both heading to Kettler tomorrow for the morning skate! It will be an interesting experience, considering my sister is coming along, my sister who hates all sports, especially hockey because I talk about it so much. This will be my first concrete attempt to get her into hockey, though I doubt it’ll work.
Also, on Tuesday, Meghan and I are heading down to Norfolk to watch the Bears (hopefully) kick the Admirals’ asses! This, also, will be attended with my older sister =] We have fourth row seats, so expect good pictures from both of us.
- Anna
