your local starbucks. >> good evening. welcome to news4 at 5:00. a top story tonight, frosty temperatures and even some snow in parts of our area. check out the scene earlier this afternoon in montgomery village and montgomery county. a brief but strong flurry in a place even stuck to the ground. >> snow also falling in loudon county this morning. a squall hit in leesburg for just a few minutes before the sun came back out. right now, folks across our area are dealing with the coldest air of the season. chief doug kammerer is here with the latest on how long it will stick for us. >> coldest air of the season by far. the current temperature out there, 28 degrees as the sun is just made its way down sunset tonight. 4:58. the temperature right now, 28 degrees. look at the winds. still sustain at 22 miles an hour. that gives as you windchill that is very, very cold.

the actual temperature in gaithersburg, 25 in leesburg, 21 back toward winchester and down to the south, fredericksburg coming in at 30 degrees. the windchill is factor. some already seeing it into the single digits. we are dealing with some snow. we see some snow showers toward the winchester area, toward front royal and toward fauquier county. that's really about it. we're starting to see the snow showers wind down just a little bit. all of them coming from the great lakes. these were in fact lake effect snow showers and they will continue to move on through the region tonight. expect a couple flurries. the biggest area, the biggest news is the cold air waking to temperatures tomorrow, around 20 degrees inside the city. most of you will wake up to temperatures in the teens. the windchills in those single digits. we'll talk about the coldest weather and how long it will last coming up in my full forecast. the day has come. the first official contest of the 2012 presidential election is here.

after two years or more of informal visits followed by official campaign declarations and countless stump speeches, the iowa caucuses take place tonight. this morning most of the candidates were making their final push for iowa votes. "meet the press" moderator david is here with us and his thoughts on the presidential race. we kick off today, the big news today, newt gingrich characterizing mitt romney as a liar. is this going to help or hurt gingrich? >> reporter: well, i think it is more of a reflect of where gingrich is right now. just a couple weeks ago that he was saying he would be the nominee. based on where the polling was and he is falling quite a bit in iowa because he's been subjected to a barrage of negative ads from the super pac that's an outside group affiliated with mitt romney. they don't coordinate by law but they nevertheless do his for him without him having to spend money. so that impact has really been

felt by the gingrich campaign. now he is kind of a wounded candidate. the expectations are not very high for him tonight so he will come out swinging as they go into new hampshire and then down into south carolina. >> everybody it seems in the past few months has been up or down. what do you make of the late surge by social conservative rick santorum? >> well, i think he is, first of all, done it the old-fashioned way. he came to iowa for the first time in 2009 where he gave a speech to anlt abortion activists. so he was here very early. and has been to all 99 counties. he has really worked the state. gotten to be pretty well known and he is catching the wave at the right time. you know, if romney is the establishment candidate, you have a desire for a social conservative in the race. that electorate here, the caucusgoers have moved to santorum, at least in the latter part of the race here. now we'll see who comes out to

caucus. >> real quick david, put in it perspective. the big picture. how much does tonight really matter in the long haul? >> reporter: if romney wins, it is a big 56ry. he'll do better than he expected. he lost in 2008. whether he does well or less well, there is still going to be a fight that will go well into south carolina and perhaps beyond because he is a weak front-runner. romney is at this point. >> all right. the season has begun. david gregory of "meet the press." thanks so much. we appreciate it. montgomery county police are for a man who allegedly robbed a cvs drugstore on christmas eve and there is an odd twist on this story. the suspect was apparently covered in bandages. pat joins with us a look at the details is that a look at the surveillance video. pat? >> reporter: the target, this cvs store in montgomery village. the crime, robbery. the suspect, the suspect, a

bandaged up bandit. take a look at this guy. what does he look like to you? >> he looks like somebody that is really hurt. got his arm in a sling and his head is all bandaged. >> painful. >> reporter: when you look at him over he. >> i feel sick. >> reporter: if he tried to rob you, what would you do? >> i would probably feel sorry for him at first. >> try to kick him where it hurts. >> i would run. >> reporter: what if i said he claims he has a gun. what would you do? >> i would run. >> reporter: faster. >> faster. >> reporter: now over the years, we've seen robbers use all sorts of disguises to try to defeat security cameras and avoid arrest. there was the donald. well, with maybe a little thicker hair. the construction worker with the village people look. and the ever popular alien. i'm not a member of the human

race, my home is out there in outer space. now comes the bandaged bandit. vulnerable, nonthreatening. but more importantly, hard to pick out of a lineup. you might think of this guy as the anti-santa. you see this happened on the eve of christmas. the day before the great day of giving. this guy is on the take with bandages wrapped around his head, his arm in a sling. he goes into that cvs, and there he makes his move. >> he is wearing blue jeans, a blue sweatshirt, the unusual part of his description was his face was wrapped in bandages. and his article was in a sling. >> he looked like a patient. >> he looked like a patient. like a mummy. the suspect walked through the entire store, straight to the pharmacy counter, implied he had

a weapon, presented a note demanding drugs, prescription medication, received an und undisclosed amount of oxycontin and turned around and went through door. >> reporter: this cvs was robbed twice in november. not by the bandaged bandit. by two other robbers in regular robbing outfits but bad actors nonetheless. barbara, back to you. >> well, you have to hand it to him for being clever. that's not one we've seen before. at least i haven't. thank you, pat, for that story. in the district today, d.c. council chair kwame brown hinted that he is preparing for the possible harry thomas jr. might not be able to do his job or end up resigning. brown told roerts that residents are going to be taken care of despite thomas' distracting legal troubles. now more on the story. >> reporter: the fbi raided

harry thomas' house last month and sources say that corruption investigation is nearing an end. last december 2nd, federal agents swarld over thomas's house in northeast washington, speck much of the day there hauling away accept thattive vehicles and other items. >> my integrity -- >> reporter: the ward five councilmember thomas has struggled to combat allegations he misspent more than $300,000 in city funds on his own lavish lifestyle. the investigation began earlier last year when d.c. attorney general irving nathan got thomas to agree to repay $300,000. without admitting legal wrongdoing. now several sources tell nbc 4, the federal authorities are nearing an end to their possible criminal case against thomas. with the councilmember increasingly distracted from representing his northeast ward 5. d.c. council chairman kwame brown was asked if he could still be a productive member of the council.

brown suggested in a way that says he is expecting a resignation. >> we'll do everything we can to make sure the residents of ward 5 continue to have things move forward, whether it is the economic development projects, sure that we have a stand-alone middle school in ward 5 ready to go. whether we make sure that any of the constituents services and the issues are taken care of. we'll make sure the residents of ward 5 are well represented. >> reporter: no member of the d.c. council has ever resigned under a legal cloud in the council's 37-year history of home government. thomas has denied any wrongdoing but increasingly has withdrawn from council debates and other activities as he struggles with his legal troubles. in addition to thomas the chairman and mayor vincent gray are also under separate investigations into possible wrongdoing. >> i would like for it to be over as soon as possible so we could move forward. no question. i've said thatle times. i'm forward to it being over. >> reporter: the whole city

government is under a cloud until these investigations end one way or another. back to you. >> all right. tom sherwood, thank you. a new report out tonight suggests thousands of jobs could be created by federal efforts to clean up the chems. this report from the chesapeake bay foundation concludes federal spending concludes it could support about 230,000 jobs in the region over the next 14 years. the spending would be necessary to meet requirements set by the epa to reduce pollution in the bay. however, house lawmakers have passed a series of bills that could affect the spending productions. some republicans and business groups argue certain regulations hurt the economy. parking fees in montgomery county have gone up. drivers have to pay an extra ten cents an hour to park at meters in silver spring and north bethesda. it also affects the pay by space

garages. the price hike took effect new years day. the county raised the price of monthly parking stickers. not cleaning up after a snowstorm could get costly in the district. what they're planning for home and business owners who don't shovel. also tonight, starbucks rings in the new year with a new price list. how much more your caffeine fix how much more your caffeine fix will ♪ more and more folks are trying out snapshot from progressive. a totally different way to save on car insurance. the better you drive, the more you can save. no wonder snapshot's catching on. plug into the savings you deserve

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♪ let's go tree. there are some end of the season chores that still have to be done. >> liz crenshaw reports. jurisdictions in our area are one clean-up project easier for residents to complete. we like this one. >> we like this one. we're talking about that depressing job of taking down the christmas tree. as sad and tedious as it can be, county and city services do make the job simple and environmentally friendly. it was pretty, it was cute, but now that evergreen has got to go. >> so you've stripped it of its finery. what is the final fate of old tannenbaum? if you have a wooded area in your yard, the naturalists say

lay the tree on its side. it makes a perfect habitat for birds and other critters. but if you just want the tree out of your sight, just lay it on the curb where its life will not be lost in the landfill. in fact the haulers drag and smash and crush those trees and they're whizzed and chopped and turned into this. great mulch for your garden. not only are we not filling up the landfills with last year's christmas cheer but we're churning up youthful garden stuff as well. here are the rules. for all jurisdictions, the tree must be free of all decorations and it should not be in a bag of any sort. in d.c., christmas trees will be pigged up for recycling for the first two weeks of january. put your tree on the curb by 7:00 a.m. by saturday, the 14th. if you live in fairfax county, and have county trash pick-up, put your tree on the curb on the first two week of january.

if you use a private trash service, call your company for instructions. in article county, trees will be picked up the first two week of jab. january 3 through the 16th. put your tree on the curb by 6:00 a.m. on your regular trash collection day. loud oun county residents can recycle now through january 19th at the following locations. the landfill in leesburg, the loftsville protective association, franklin park, south riding town hall and claude moorpark. if you live in prince william county of baltimore, take your greenery to the prince william county cull post facility in manassas. or the prince william county landfill in manassas. the city of alexandria will collect on two saturdays in january. january 14th and the 21st. pick-up is curbside only and the

tree must be there by 7:00 a.m. montgomery county is recycling christmas trees until february 3rd. put your tree at the curb by 7:00 a.m. and in prince george's county, place your trees by 6:30 on regularly scheduled collection days. collection takes plays all year long so there is no rush to get your tree out on the curb. you can bring it to the county yard waste facility or to the brown station road public convenience center through january 31st. news4 washington. >> you can get all this information on local christmas tree recycling on our website. nbc washington.com. just search tree recycling. is your tree down? deflooded? >> are you kidding? >> no? you're still dealing with it. you just put it up. >> it seems like just yesterday. it is so hard to take it down. >> another week or so. >> through the super bowl. >> that's good.

yeah. a lot of those recycling dates are before the super bowl. >> i know yours is. it is just because i have a hard time coming back to work and still having it up. >> you make us all feel guilty. >> i'm a little weird. snowstorms on the district could bring more headache for city, property owners and businesses, too. a new bill being considered in the d.c. council will allow city inspectors to issue tickets just like parking tickets to property owners who don't clear snow from adjacent public sidewalks. current law requires officials to take an offensing property owner to court. homeowners would face warnings and $25. business cosmetic face fines of $250 or more. d.c. law says adjacent public sidewalks are supposed to be cleared of snow within eight daylight hours after a snowfall has stopped. the bill is likely to pass. but likely won't take effect until after this winter. >> if this guy misses the forecast by like five or six

inches, he will come directly to your house and shovel. >> a little bit of snow. some areas did see some accumulation. if you're out toward frederick county, also places to the north and west of the city. now, a pretty nice day out there if you're liking winter. a lot of you saying way too cold. but on my facebook page, believe it or not, 70% of the people who responded said, hey, i love this weather. bring it on. 28 degrees, the current temperature with the windchill of 14. what are you thinking now? definitely on the cold side. look at the winds. still gusting. not just to 22 miles an hour. but our winds are at 35 miles an hour at 5:00 in the afternoon. that makes for a very cold evening. the current temperatures, 22 in hagerstown. 25 in leesburg. 28 in fredericksburg and 30 in annapolis. you add in that wind. the sustained wind, not the gust but the sustained winds give us a windchill of 14 in washington. 14 in frederick.

eight in hagerstown. 13 that manassas and virginia at 9. you add in the gusts and they're even colder than this. so it will be a very cold night when you step out the door. talking about the windchills through 11:30 tonight. down to about 15 in washington. about the same as it is now. single digits toward the north. frederick, a windchill of about 4. 11 in winchester. 13 toward fredericksburg. tomorrow morning, a little less wind but much colder temperatures. so 12 in gaithersburg, 7 as you head out the door tomorrow morning. a very cold start to your wednesday although i do think tomorrow will be a little bit warmer than it was today. doppler radar still picking up a couple of snow showers. a couple toward baltimore and baltimore county. here's a good one. right around the winchester area, i've been watching this one for the last couple hours. coming through hampshire county, this one will put down some

accumulation. especially on the western side of the blue ridge right here. watch out for that if you are heading toward root 7. you will see the heavier snow make its way through. all of this courtesy of the lakes. the great lakes. lake effect snows coming all the way down toward our region. a lot of the people said lake effect snow here? well, yeah. as a matter of fact, take a look at it. the heaviest snow in montgomery county came through about 1:30 in the morning. but it originated 12 hours earlier right around lake erie. here it is. watch this. here it comes, we've still got it here. and then right here. 1:30, coming all the way down from the lakes and then giving as you pretty good snow shower right around the gaithersburg area through rockdale, bethesda, even northwest portions of d.c. cold, scattered snow showers, 23 to 28 degrees with the windchills in the lower teens. tomorrow, starting off on a very cold note. these are actual temperatures. 12 to 20 degrees with the

windchills potentially in the single digits. tomorrow afternoon, we'll see partly to mostly cloudy skies. maybe a possible flurry. 32 to about 36 degrees for high temperatures. so maybe a little warmer than it was today but not much. look at this. thursday, friday, and saturday. we get out of the cold very, very quickly. back into at least the low 50s by the end of the week and right now, saturday, pretty good. >> good timing there. >> not bad at all. >> thank you. there's more to come on news4 at 5:00. still ahead, how strangers sprang into action to save a family from a car that crashed into an icy ravine. plus, an iraqi war vet wages a battle

and a murder investigation at one of england's royal estates. a woman's body was found sprawling at the queen's estate. police are treating it as a murder case. the body was found about three miles from the royal family's sand ring halringham home. investigators believe the body was there for several months.

the queen and her husband remain there for now. the police say the queen and her family are not implicated in any way. growing concerns over tensions with iran, crude oil fell nearly 4%. the rise, a ruffle concern iran will try to close the strait of hormuz. last month iran's military threatened to shut it off if western nations imposed more sanctions. >> it is the latest round of iranian threats and its confirmation today iran is under increasing pressure for its continued failures to live up to its international obligation. >> reporter: it includes freezing assets and embargoing oil exports. harsh words today about

egypt's ousted leader as prosecutors, mubarak was wheeled out. he was called a tyrant by egypt's chief prosecutor. the former officials are charged in the kills of nearly 1,000 anti-government protesters. his sons also face corruption charges. meanwhile, egyptians headed to the polls today to vote in elections for a new parliament. and still ahead on news4 at 5:00, a park arranger gunned down at mt. rainier. plus the traffic impact as a plus the traffic impact as a final group on my journey acros,

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prices at starbucks. how much more you'll be paying. hello, everybody. a very cold afternoon right now. windchills in the single digits and lower teens. we do have some snow out there. most of the snow showers have died down but there are a couple leftovers out there toward warrenton and fauquier county. look back toward frederick county, virginia. this is back right along the clark county area. we'll see it right around winchester and toward white post. i would not be surprised to find a quick little dusting of accumulation around i-81. watch out in that area. also out toward route 50. if you're around winchester toward white post, as you make your way toward loudoun county, you may see some accumulation very quickly.

we'll continue to keep an eye out for you and let you know when we start to see some warmer air moving in. >> thank you. the park ranger who was shot to death at mt. rainier on new years day has a special connection to our area. she moved here before moving to washington state. darcy spender spoke with some of andersen's co-workers and she is live in potomac with more. >> reporter: the national park service released this picture of the victim today in uniform. she worked here for a couple of years. i spoke to her friends and colleagues today. they describe her as a nice person. a friendly person. they also said she was tough as nails. margaret andersen is the ranger who was gunned down while on duty at the rainier national park new years day. >> she was great. she was spunky. one of the nicest, sweetest peel you'll ever meet. >> reporter: alley worked with her at the national historical

park where she patrolled the park until a few years aflg anderson was also an ems and would provide medical assistance to those injured at the park. >> there has been so many e-mails floating around from volunteers to staff members. everybody remembering margaret. and everybody kind of asking, you know, is that our margaret? so you know, yes, it is. >> reporter: police believe this is the man responsible for her death. benjamin barnes, an army veteran also suspected in a quadruple shooting. police say he shot andersen while she was a trek point at the park. barnes' body was found on park grounds, apparently succumbing to the cold. >> she was outstanding. i think in this world, there are some people that just make the world a better place and she was one of those. >> reporter: ranger lee also worked closely with andersen who was married to another ranger. the andersens had two young daughters. >> with law enforcement, it is something that any law enforcement officer can tell you, that there is no guarantee they'll come home at the end of

the shift. >> reporter: the rangers we spoke to say the killing doesn't make them feel their jobs are more dangerous but it is a reminder that tragedy can strike. even at a national park. >> just really sad. and it can happen anywhere. when you think of the parks and you just don't necessarily think about that happening, but our law enforcement rangers, anything can happen and people come in here themselves bring their same baggage into the parks unfortunately. >> reporter: the suspect is said to have suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder since returning from service in iraq. in potomac, darcy spencer, news4. back to you. >> thank you. >> the way the u.s. military fights conflicts overseas could be changing due to budgets cuts. leon panetta is putting together a budget that is set to be released on thursday. it is expected to be slashed over the next ten years. the white house says the plan

will balance new national security threats with economic realities. coming up at 6:00, brian moore will have a complete report including specific concerns from military experts. it was the final move-in day for thousands of federal workers relocating to the new marc center in alexandria. that men more cars creeping along 395. 6,500 employees are now housed at the complex. they estimated 200,000 people. those who want to dodge the traffic are relying on public transit. others who get behind the wheel say they're pac their patience and so far, they've been surprised by their ease of travel. >> so far it hasn't been bad. people have been off on vacation and stuff so we'll see. >> yeah. they're back now. to curb traffic nightmares, congress recently capped the null of spaces at about 2,000 spots. v-dot also retimed traffic signals and reconfigured ramps

to open up more lanes. loudoun county has a new sheriff in town. mike chapman might not be moved into his office yet but he is hard at work. here is more on the changes for folks. >> reporter: day one on the job. a new loudoun county sheriff mike chapman found himself in front of the board of supervisors advocating for a new $8 million substation. he defeated his opponent in december and has brought in a new leadership team. one that includes former administrators from both the dea and fbi. chapman himself is a former dea special agent. >> the first thing i wanted to do was establish a new die naturalic leadership tale. i decided to have a blend and bring in some outside experts who i personally work. with. >> reporter: he said with former federal agents in top positions, his department will be able to work cooperatively to attack the top problem in the county. drugs. >> we're able to accomplish terrific investigations. when we seized assets, we're able to get the money back to

the state and local law enforcement officers that assisted with the case. so it is also a financial gain as well. >> reporter: the sheriff says another focus will be improved communication within the department and with the public. he says residents can soon expect more reverse 911 calls from his department. >> what we're trying to do is to make sure that we have outreach, that we're able to reach the communicate on incidents of concern. even do some reverse 911, real-time notifications on crimes going on out there. >> reporter: the county board chairman and republican scott york who had been critical expects chapman's presence to boost morale in the department and increase visibility in the community. the sheriff will be at work. i think seven days a week helping the good member and women who put themselves on the street to protect us. >> reporter: in loudoun county, news4. >> and sheriff chapman oversees a department of 547 deputies, 11 form he staffers, most in command positions were let go as he reorganized.

when we come right back on news4 at 5:00, a high school athlete injured in a hockey gam

uncovering a link between soft drinks and heart disease. get ready, coffee drinkers.

the biggest chain is hiking prices including here in washington. starbucks announced it will increase prices by 1% in the northeast and sunbelt regions. the price of a tall cup of coffee will go up a dime. but beverages that are grande or vente won't change price. the company says higher prices are a result of competition and higher costs for coffee and fuel among other things. the company that owns the mountain dew soft drink says the beverage has the ability to dissolve a dead mouse. the claim from pepsi company came as a response to a lawsuit. in its case, a man said he found a rodent in his mountain dew in 2009. experts for the soft drink maker in court testified that acid used to bottle it would have turned the mouse into a jelly like substance before the soft drink reached the customer. the man is more than $50,000 in damages. pepsico has until january 11th to offer a plea or the case will

go to trial. a new study found sugary sodas aren't good for your heart. researchers in denmark say they have found a clear link between heart disease and soft drinks. the researchers tracked several groups of people over a six-month period. they said the groups that drank large amounts of soft drinks had double the fat in their liver and muscle tissue than those who drank milk or water. they say the soda drinking group had a risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. >> you're more likely to be back in the hospital after suffering a heart attack by having one here in america versus overseas. that's according to a new study. it examined admission and discharge data of nearly 6,000 patients from 17 countries. those living in the u.s. returned to the hospital bed most often. research,don't know why but say 60% of u.s. patients were discharged within three days, compare that to at least six days spend by more than half of

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veteran is in a fight with his home county over a tree house. hello, i'm meteorologist doug kammerer. still watching the cold air and a couple of snow showers remaining across the area. 28 degrees, the current temperature out there. that wind, 22 miles an hour. gusting to 30 to 35 right now puts our windchill around 14 degrees across the region. doppler radar showing where we

still have the snow showers, now making their way from frederick county in toward virginia right through clark county and eventually in toward northern fauquier. a very good snow shower. i would not be surprised here to see some accumulation out of this right around the winchester area. you may get a quick half an inch of snow from this. it has been going on about the last 45 minutes or so and it is making its way through 50. right through millwood. and it will continue down toward the south and east right through the next couple hours. maybe toward middleburg and the marshall area. you'll see some snow showers there and you could see some slick roads with the temperatures being as cold as they are. most of the snow showers are continuing to fade away and will continue to do so for tonight. look at the cold temperatures. down to 14 in gaithersburg. 13 in leesburg. around 20 inside the district and manassas coming in at 13 degrees. this is all when you wake up tomorrow morning so you know it will be a very cold start to wednesday. and we won't warm up all that much. maybe a degree or two warmer than it was today. a little bit less wind tomorrow

so not totally on the bad side. but still, one of the coldest days we've seen so far this winter. the coldest air will not last. i'm have the extended forecast at 6:00. thank you. over the past two months, fairfax county has asked two military families to take down their tree houses. tonight one airman is speaking out saying he built the tree house with his children and completed the project just before being deployed overseas. jane watrel has more from fairfax county. >> reporter: it is a labor of love for phillip, this springfield man spent two years building this ecofriendly tree house with his sons. after the air force family transferred from colorado. >> we contacted the county and said we're looking at building a tree house in the backyard. and they told us that for a tree house, unless it was going to be something extravagant, that we did not need any permission or paperwork to go lake with that. >> reporter: two months after

finishing the tree house, blevins was deployed as part of operation enduring freedom. but someone anonymously brought the tree house to fairfax county's attention saying it was too close to the fence line. denise blevins called a zoning official and asked for a delay. >> i said there is nothing i can do. my husband is deployed. what i am a going to do? and he said that he would just talk to his supervisors and see if we could delay any action on it. and he did. >> reporter: but on friday the family got a court summons saying the tree house has to be moved or torn down and has 21 days to comply. this is the second time a military family has been in a zoning scrape in fairfax county. last month there was a ground swell of outrage from the neighbors of mark, an iraqi war veteran who finally won permission to keep his children's tree house standing after his second try for a zoning variance. the blevins family is hoping for the same outcome. >> it seemed to be very similar

with the other gentleman. my guess is the time lines were pretty similar as well. they just happened to get to our tree house a little later than his. >> reporter: news4 has contacted fairfax county. a spokeswoman said they're looking into the matter. in the meantime, the blevins say they have contacted an attorney. in springfield, jane watrel, news4. the blevins say they don't believe they can appeal the summons before the fairfax county zoning board because the matter is already in circuit court. turning to sports, the caps are on a winning streak. >> yes, we are. at 3 we are. they're going to try to keep it going against the flames. dan has more. >> reporter: trying to keep that winning streak rolling into the new year. the guys have won three games in a row. that's the strongest winning streak under new head coach dale hunter. they'll also get a boost because mike green who has missed 23 games is going to be back in the

lineup. nick backstrom hasn't missed a game the entire season. we caught up with him a bit ago and asked if the team is finally back on track. >> i hope so. i have a good feeling in the team. and we're playing good lately. except the two first periods against columbus. i think we've been playing good and hopefully we can keep doing what we're doing. >> reporter: do you think in the long run, i know it might be hard to see the forest through the trees here. but it could be a good thing that you guys haven't just rolled through the regular season like you've done so much in the past. >> i think so, too. we had our ups and downs. and i think that's good for the team. in the last couple years, we've been winning a lot in the regular season. so i think this is good for our team and stuff like that. >> reporter: you have been a constant on this team. very consistent over the years. ovechkin in the last year or two seem to be up and down. lately he's been on fire.

a couple back to back two-goal games. he's had a point in six straight gals. what has been the difference? >> i think we had chances before. we haven't been putting them in. and i think now when it is on the road, it will keep going. and that's what we need. he is a big key in our team. and if you play like this, we're happy. and i would love to see him like this. >> reporter: can you sense when he is really rolling and you know you need to get him the puck in a certain spot? >> yeah, you can tell but you try to do not the same thing every game but you know when he wants the puck and stuff like that. so you have to get the read off him. >> reporter: this will be the mike green game. he's coming back. he missed 23 games. what is that going to mean to this team to finally have your star defenseman back in the lineup? >> it means a lot.

a lot of minutes. and i don't know how it will be tonight. he's missed a lot of games. but i mean he's a big key in our team, too. i mean, he is skating well. he is passing good. we need him back there. and i think our team is better with him in the lineup. >> reporter: every sport a little different. how long does it take guy, every guy is different, too. but to get the hockey legs back. how long before we see the old mike green in they've talked about easing him boo the lineup. >> probably going to take a couple games, i think. because he missed 23 games, as you said. it is going to be, he is pumped for tonight, i think. so he'll be flying out there from the start. >> reporter: nick backstrom on mike green. the defenseman is ready to go. and it has been a long time. he's only played in eight games

this entire season out of 37. it is the capitals and the calgary flames tonight here at verizon center. we'll have a lot more coming up. >> support is pouring in for a promising high school hockey player in minneapolis who suffered a serious spinal cord injury. 16-year-old jack took a big hit during a game on friday. two players checked him from behind. he fell to the ground motionless. his parents were in the stands. >> when your son goes down in that type of situation, you say, okay, get up. you down to five. >> reporter: but jack never got back up. he is in the hospital unable to move his arms or legs. he is scheduled to have spinal surgery this week but doctors can't say if he'll ever walk again. in the meantime, his parents say an outpouring of support is helping their son stay hopeful. there has been a stream of visitors, including his teammates. and thousands of people have

left notes of encouragement on a webb set up in jack's honor. >> we certainly wish him good luck and the family, too. >> jim vance joins us with a preview of what's coming up at 6:00. >> coming up at 6:00, out in iowa they're getting ready to go to the caucuses to cast their vote. we'll have a report on that. we'll have details in the murder of a man in arlington two years ago. and a happy reunion of family lost their dog four years ago. just got him back. and they're loving life right now. those stories and more coming up. that's a lot of time in dog years. >> 28 of them. >> good math.

good samaritans who rescued his three children from a car submerged in an icy river. inspectors are into what caused a massive gas line explosion. it happened around 7:00 last night. 35 families were evacuated. all are back home tonight except for one family. their house was damaged by the blast. no injuries were reported. a horrible accident in utah could have become a new years tragedy if it were not for the kindness of strangers.

>> they jumped into action to save three children trapped inside a car that skidded off a road and overturned in an icy river. >> reporter: the icy logan river on new years eve was well on its way to becoming a frigid liquid tomb to three young children. after the car they were riding in skidded off the road, slid ten feet down an embankment and handed upside down in the bitterly cold water. >> the first thought was so this is how it ends. which was kind of, you know, not a good thought. >> this very easily could have been a funeral for four of us. >> reporter: roger andersen was able to free himself from his honda accord. but the children, his 4-year-old son baylor, 9-year-old mia and her friend, 9-year-old kenya wildman were trapped inside. it was a moment when seconds would make the difference between life and death.

>> i was gone in a second. i was completely off the road and then sliding down the embankment. >> reporter: seemingly out of nowhere. >> these people that were there at the scene without hesitation, they just did what they had to do. and that for our family made all the difference. >> reporter: his own two children were by now floating lifeless in the river water that was filling the car. little baylor still strapped into his child seat. kenya had found an air pocket but she couldn't get out of her seatbelt. the men tried opening the car windows, or another door. but the water was rising and nothing would move. then one of them, chris willden pulled out his handgun and shot out a window. the group strangers turned rescuers quickly pulled the kids from the car. passing them up the icy river

bank where others performed life-saving cpr. almost against the odds, all three children would live to see the new year. >> it was greater than just the physical hands and the hearts. it was something more divine that went on that day. >> reporter: two families and three children who are doing just fine today. thanks to a random act of kindness and courage. >> i love them. i will be forever grateful. they are my heroes in every sense of the word, really. they are the reason i have my children. >> those pictures, what an unbelievably frightening ordeal. >> that's it for us tonight. >> on news4 at 5:00. we thank you. stay right ther