Ifs

If... the Chicago Blackhawks won every one of their remaining games in regulation they would finish the season with 120 standing points. The Capitals can reach 120 points by winning 7 of their last 10 games. If the tie breaker is the stat "goals for", the Blackhawks have 230 goals, while the Caps easily beat them in that category with 283 goals for as it stands this morning. That means the Hawks would have to score 53 goals in that time (and the Caps would have to be shutout for their remaining games).

If... the Pittsburgh Penguins won every one of their remaining games in regulation time, they would have a 110 points. The Caps can match that mark by just winning 2 of their last 10 games. The Pens would also have to score 59 goals for the tie break.

If... Sidney Crosby wanted to win the Rocket Richard trophy, he would have to score at least 8 goals in his last ten games to overcome Alex Ovechkin's .73 goals per game average. Ovechkin's average would give him about 7 goals in his last ten games. While Crosby's average would likely only give him 6 goals in his last ten games (.63 goals a game average).

If... Henrik Sedin wanted to overcome Ovechkin in points, he would have to grace the scoresheet with assists or goals totaling at least 16 in his last ten games. Ovechkin is averaging 1.56 points a game.

If... Nick Backstrom wanted to overcome Henrik Sedin for assists leader in the league he would have to pass the puck to a goal scorer at least 10 times in the last 10 games of the season to overcome Sedin's average assists per game of .93. Backstrom has .82 for this season.

If... The standings remain as they are to finish the season, the Capitals would play the Boston Bruins in their last game in the regular season and then see them in the first round of the playoffs.

Caps Finish Road Trip With Win

Capitals 3, Lightning 1
Game Summary

Alex Ovechkin returns from his two-game, league-enforced suspension. His return meant a winner in Tampa Bay for the Capitals and a goal to put him back in the swing of things. Just a few thoughts on the game tonight.

• Ovechkin's goal was pretty, but the pass by Nick Backstrom to the Cap's top scorer was even more impressive. Nick passed it off the boards past the Bolt defense to Ovechkin in full stride past them. Before anyone in a Tampa jersey knew the better, Ovi was in on Antero Nittymaki and made good on his held shot to beat the goaltender. Backstrom has been on fire for the Caps as he has accumulated 8 points in this last four games (3g, 5a). If Backstrom directly passes to Ovi, it's picked off. Ricocheting the puck off the boards, he catches Ovechkin onside and the puck is in the net.
• Tomas Fleischmann is probably the most underrated player on the Caps. His numbers aren't sky rocketing, but he is quickly making a name for himself in the league. Tonight he finished off a pretty passing play for the game's opening tally. Flash will sometimes cough up the puck, but tonight he made up for Martin St. Louis stealing the puck from him by picking his pocket afterward.
  
• David Steckel loves to play the Lightning. Tonight he was sort of the quiet guy that made the difference. He had a secondary assist on Flash's goal and drew the penalty after Steve Downie punched him to try and goad him into something. Steckel didn't retaliate and the end result is a hard earned two points from a divisional foe.
• Speaking of Downie, here is a guy who should just get an automatic two minute penalty for being an idiot. Downie tried to get under the Caps skin rather than playing the game. For the most part, he seemed to be getting away with it. That was until hockey karma caught up with him with less than two minutes left in the game when he tried to goad Steckel into a fight or penalty by punching him in the face. Just not smart.
  
• Jose Theodore had a great game. So did Nittymaki for that matter. Both goaltenders really could not be blamed for the their goals against. Saying that, Theo just came up with save after save after as the Capitals clung to a one goal lead. He made 33 saves in route to the game's number one star. Well deserved.
• Congratulations to Scott Walker on being the only Capital not named Matt Bradley or John Erskine to drop the gloves this season. I kid of course, but his fight with Zenon Konopka did seem to spark both teams and set the tone for the game. This was a dirty game, a lot of swings thrown on both teams and some nasty talk and unsportsmanlike candor to this one. All in all, one of the more entertaining games from a nasty physical standpoint the Caps have played all year.

Unless the Lightning actually make the playoffs and sneak into eighth place (they are just 6 points from 8th in the conference), this will be the last time these two teams will meet this year. The Capitals stretch their lead in the league to 10 points with just 10 games remaining in the season.

Their lead in the East has grown to 16 points over the second place team Pittsburgh. And wouldn't you know it, they face off on Wednesday night. All eyes will be on Verizon Center as these two teams duke it out in their last regular season meeting. Should be a good one.

Caps Win Without Ovechkin

Capitals 4, Blackhawks 3
Game Summary

Since everyone has their recaps up and most of you have read them, I am just going to give my 5 thoughts on the games.

• Chicago never had an answer for Nick Backstrom. He had a spectacular game. I think if Alex Ovechkin had not hit Brian Campbell and been ejected (my thoughts on that in a bit) he could have easily scored at least two goals off of Backstrom feeds. His goal in overtime was astonishing. He even knew the hit was coming as he cut in the slot and he still put a perfect shot through Antti Niemi's 5 hole.
• Eric Belanger was the only Capital with over 50% on his face off draws (he had 59%). The Caps were terrible in the face off circle and were 39% for the game. Dave Steckel was one who did not do well in draws, but his play right after Brooks Laich scored the power play goal was 100% pure hustle. He beat out the icing then found Eric Fehr wide open in front.
• The Capitals do not have an exceptional defense. They just have an average one which is prone to make mistakes. It looked as if the Caps were playing a rover to cover Patrick Kane. Early in the game when both teams were down a man, Joe Corvo continued to shadow Kane, while Steckel came off the face off he went high to cover the point instead of low to cover Jonathan Toews who didn't move from the face off dot. 5 on 5, that strategy would have (and did) worked, but instead it leads to the first goal of the game for Chicago.
• Jose Theodore played outstanding as in both games, you could not really fault the goaltending of either Theo or Semyon Varlamov. The difference between this game and the one before is the Caps work ethic in the third period. The Caps seemed to gain momentum off of hard work that finished off the second period and continued on into the third. When the Caps put on their hard hats, they are a tough team to beat.
• The hit by Alex Ovechkin was unfortunate. It happened in a bad area of the ice and it caught Campbell off guard. Campbell passed the puck across his body to reverse the flow. Ovechkin was on the other side of the Hawk player and gave him a push at the wrong time. Campbell, who was already vulnerable having passed behind him had very little time to protect himself as he went into the boards. Ovi clearly knew the hit was bad, maybe even wrong once he looked back at an injured Campbell. He would be ejected from the game. Should have Ovi been kicked out of the game? It is a tough call, but I think the NHL crew got it right. Keeping Ovechkin in may create the game to get out of hand. At times, it was about to with Blackhawks looking to land that revenge blow.

All in all, I think the Caps had played well all game, despite a few mistakes that the Blackhawks took full advantage of. It is a good character win, and they can learn and grow from it I believe.

The Capitals next three games will be against divisional foes all on the road. The Caps have opened a 5 point lead in the overall league standings. They keep their 14 point lead over the Penguins in the Eastern Conference.

Caps Outworked

Capitals 2, Lightning 3
Game Summary

The Washington Capitals dominated the Tampa Bay Lightning at times. But that didn't matter. The Caps had the Bolts on the ropes, outshooting them 13-0 at the start of the second period. But the Bolts found ways to score anyway. The Capitals fail to hit the century mark in standings points as they drop a tough one against the Bolts 3-2.

"There is no excuse," Bruce Boudreau said about his player's effort tonight. "[They] just got outworked."

It started well enough for the Caps. They seemed to have the legs and the jump on the Lightning. But Antero Nittymaki came up with some big saves. The Bolts took some penalties in the first and the Caps were quick to get things going. Alex Ovechkin pulled the puck out of the corner and found a perfect passing lane to Tomas Fleischmann on the far side. Flash put in the puck and the Caps looked good from there.

But the Lightning would work their way back into the game. Brandon Bochenski fired a rocket past Semyon Varlamov that gave Tampa life. It looked as if Varly wasn't square to the shooter and the puck was a perfect shot to the top corner. Then the bounces went Tampa's way.

Matt Walker scored off the face off when his shot bounced off Brooks Laich's foot and past Varly. Then a point shot hit Vincent Lecavalier in the arm and the puck bounced into the net under Varlamov. The goals happened less then four minutes apart and late in the second period.

"Once they started to believe that they could win, they won every battle and they outworked us," Bruce Boudreau said of the Lightning effort. "It's pretty simple, you don't win if you don't work hard."

They were able cut into the two goal lead when Matt Walker took a slashing penalty. The point shot was deflected by Laich and he slapped the rebound past Nittymaki. But it would not be enough as the Caps drop one to their divisional rivals. It could have been chalked up as a bit of bad luck, but not according to Boudreau.

"You make your own luck," Boudreau frowned. "Very rarely in any sport that luck is the outcome. If you are not working hard you are not going to get [bounces] in the front of the net... Did we do it enough? No, we didn't."

The Caps just didn't have the jump in the third period like they have before the Olympic break. "We certianly haven't been scoring at the clip that we did before the break," Mike Knuble said of the Caps sudden scoring woes. "I am not sure what the reason is."

The Lightning played a gritty game that seemed to keep the Capitals off sync. Most of their shots were from the outside and most were blocked, making it easy for Nittymaki. While the Caps looked to be dominating the Bolts, they looked more tired than the team the Lightning that played the night before.

"We should never lose in regulation in our own building," Joe Corvo said. "There are key moments in the game where we are scrambling in our own end. It's just costing us."

It is not too much cause for concern yet, the Capitals are 14 games away from the playoffs. But consistency and work ethic has always been an issue for the Caps. Things need to be nailed down before they even start thinking about playoff hockey.

"We didn't do the job as forwards and defensemen," Boudreau said shedding his goaltender of any fault to the loss. "We stayed out too long, we got outworked and we didn't play the way we are capable of playing and that's the reason we lost."

"If we are not going to work then, you know, it doesn't mean a whole lot," Knuble said. "You got to have the effort."

How Far They Have Come

There was no big celebration at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. In fact it wasn't anything out of the ordinary than a typical morning skate for the Capitals as they prepare to face the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight. The only difference is, the Washington Capitals took to the ice today as the reigning Southeast Division Champions for a third season in a row. An accomplishment with still 15 games remaining on the schedule.

"I don't think anyone came in rejoicing," Brooks Laich said of Caps clinching the division. "It's nice to know we are not going to finish lower than third. But other than that, we have bigger goals."

The Capitals have certainly come a long way. From just four years ago this was a team that underachieved, finishing a sore second from last in the Eastern Conference and fourth from last in the league overall. Now, not only are they considered Cup contenders, but they have clinched the Southeast title for a third year straight.

For the Caps' players, the path to this point has been a team effort from the coaching, to the management, to the players themselves.

When GM George McPhee worked on building up the Capitals to be a championship team, he did around some key players. With one building block after another he made a formidable wall of offensive talented players. Getting Alex Ovechkin in the first round of the '04 draft and building up players around him is what got the Capitals to this point.

"It's a big turnaround," Brooks Laich said. He joined the Capitals in '03-'04 in a series of trades the Capitals did in order to rebuild the team. "It's what management said to us the first day since I have been here. There is going to be a core group of guys that we're going to grow with and learn with and get better with. Now we are starting to reap the rewards of that."

Laich is an important key to the Capitals success and has been there for the hard times, as well as the good. "Back then, there was a lot of long nights," he said. "Nights that were tough when we took some lumps. But we knew down the road we were going to be a very good hockey team."

Another big piece to the puzzle was coaching. Bruce Boudreau has yet to have a season when the Caps have not clinched the division. When Gabby took the team over in November of '07 the Caps were in a bad slump losing 16 of their last 18 games. Boudreau's style of play and accountability would turn things around for the Capitals.

"It first started with the coaching change," Mike Green said. "Bruce coming in brought a lot of excitment and structure to our team and our organization."

But Boudreau would deflect any notion that the only contributing factor to the Caps' success is anything other than the boys in the locker room.

"We got really good players," Boudreau said. "Three years ago Mike Green is 21 and Jeff Schultz is 20 and Alex [Ovechkin] is 22 and Nicky [Backstrom] is 19. Now they have had two, three years of experience of being put under the gun, sort to speak. And they have gotten better, like players are suppose to get better."

"We have just kinda grown up together," Green remarked about his team's success. "A lot times when you try to build a team and add guys, sometimes there is not a lot of chemistry. The thing is, we are like best buddies. We play for each other on the ice and that's what makes it successful."

When Green was asked what keeps a team that is 33 points ahead of their divisional rival, 14 points ahead of the next team in the conference going, he responded: "The passion. The passion for the game."

Caps Notes:

There is just one today. Eric Belanger, Quintin Laing and Boyd Gordon will be the forwards sitting out tonight against the Lightning. Varlamov will be in net to start and Jeff Schultz will likely sit this one out as well.

Capitals Clinch Southeast

The Washington Capitals clinched the Southeast Division thanks to losses by both the Atlanta Thrashers and the Tampa Bay Lightning last night. With only 16 games remaining on the Thrashers and Lightning's schedules, both rivals can only amass 32 points if they won every game. That is good enough for second, because the Caps have a 33 point lead in the division.

The Capitals also have a comfortable lead in the Conference with 14 points separating them from the Pittsburgh Penguins. They have a four point lead over the San Jose Sharks and the entire league.

This will be the Caps third straight year with the Southeast crown and are the first in the NHL to clinch their division.