neuvirth not a great outing.he allowed 6 and i don't hang him for all of them, but i thought there were probably 3 or 4 he should have had. the last score was emblematic of the way he played. he had an open net. to me that is youth. lit be better in the future, but i didn't think he had a great game tonight, joe. >> greg: i agree 100%. i looked like interviewer was going to get all the run support, all the goal scoring support he was going to need. interviewer. the scores was -- neuvirth. it started early on the power play. the penalty killing for toronto absolutely not very good, joe. 70%. the caps struck 5-3. backstrom, great play on the back door. really waving. sort of like the basketball talk there. moving around. then he finds nicklas backstrom wide open again. more of a shooter than passer in this game tonight. >> greg: break down the line. they use theation time very well. as far as the washington caps forward group was concerned, this trio was obviously a dominating trio. could they put enough pucks past

for me, michal neuvirth went down too early, joe. he was down before the shot left his stick, and that allowed the forward, hagman to raise the puck, to score his 15th and tie up the game once again. 3:05 to go in the 2nd period. and the fingers. throughout showing his stuff. green will turn with it with 2:40 to go in period 2. and dodging over there. came to help. and toronto has 3 goals in this game. backstrom on the back check. semin the other way. alexander semin on theover lap with ovechkin. on the overlap. and he doesn't get there in time. right there so they can regroup. a minute-5 until the second intermission. and primeau is over there. and high by neuvirth. and on the boards for ponikarovsky. the toronto mapleleafs are skating through the puck, getting there first and starting to win some to have little battles below the top of the circle. that is case in point in the last couple of checks. and brendan morrison trailing the play. and knuble has the rebound for washington. erased by ponikarovsky. the final minute of the 2nd

out of the air, by michal neuvirth. caps in front by 2.n a number of ways when you look at the nhl plus/minus leaders. >> greg: looking there, and there is the sergeant. i salute him in his plus/minus, joe. terrific. simplefying the game, staying back, really getting the red light and staying home. misses wide. >> joe: and they had return there. >> greg: even better than the first one as he came right across. look at him using the glove, neuvirth showing signs of that in the 1st. >> joe: a 21-year-old czech. another draft pick of the capitals 06. turned out to be quite nice. matt bradley will spill it on the toronto half. laich organizes with otherwise. and -- otherwise. names there. -- otherwise. i thought they usually get home work calls, joe, here in toronto. >>> the one goal here compliments of ovechkin. >> greg: and down wide. able to wrap it off the boards, all the way. as green swings t break out begins. right on target for brooks laich who leads the team to the power play goals. challenge by primeau. ovechkin takes it on the hop. a

loads and drives right to the gut of neuvirth. >> craig: we will stop there with neuvirth. the capitals turning it over on their blue line. ryan driving hard to the net. the caps have to be better. here ov trying to do too much. here's the oilers three on two. good three-way passing play. lead together slap shot into the belly of the caps' young goalie. >> joe: john is closing in on 600 games. >> craig: big time college numbers at michigan state. >> joe: he was an outstanding spartan. david steckel playing at ohio state. steckel bottled up, and away come the oiler in the blue as we reach the 6-minute mark in the scoreless opening period. quintin laing will be digging his hardest with matt bradley. no score north of the border. >>> she's proudly wearing capital's red, white, and blue in the enemy easter tore. caps and oilers, no store score. the ones to watch, two hefty winners. nike knuble the veteran. 16 points so far. 18 goals, doubling up anybody close to them in their lineup. the next best guy with 9 goals. 18 goals, top ten in the nfl. >> joe: knuble got one on the boa

good positioning for newt -- for neuvirth.e caps have had little success. >> neuvirth has won nine of the last eleven. save percentage on the year around 9.30. nilsson working in. nilsson's pass for penner. horcoff, challenged by brooks laich. he says get out of here. >> craig: good job by brooks. especially on the pk, get that puck down, and make them go the full 200. >> joe: the capitals trying to end the four-game road swing in style after a loss last night in vancouver. gilbert closing in. one minute on the power play for edmonton. bombs away. rebound is loose. quick whistle comes. sheldon souray with the bionic wrist. can he ever bring it. >> craig: he has the record here of 106.7 miles an hour. it doesn't register with the nhl when they have their superskills, but that's the mark right now. this is how he can bring it on the thompson creek window of opportunity. a lot of traffic in front as you can see there. and he just brings the puck at over 10 20 miles an hour. how are you going to stop that? great stop through traff

wrister on the way, knocked down in front of neuvirth. we will keep our eyes on deslauriers. he will lift him for the extra skater, can't do it now. deslauriers recovers. >> craig: he was coming at full speed and said uh-oh. now he's out cleanly because the oilers have the puck. >> joe: semin and ovechkin going the other way. looking for the hat trick, back hands it wide. alex ovechkin trying to reel in the nhl's goal scoring leader with his two tallies in the third. 9-4 in the third. bumped to poti. just over a minute in regulation. nilsson did not keep it away. back pedaling away from alex semin. rexall place a much quieter place in the third. take nothing chances, sealing it to the ice. our capitals player the game compliments of the palm restaurant, $100 gift certificate to the great 8. >> craig: two goals and assists in the third period alone. they wanted to leave the west in style, picking up some wins, and they fought hard to come back from the 2-0 deficit. well done performance here in the 3rd period by alex, and the rest of his teammates. >> joe: 48.3 seconds away fr

. >> joe: neuvirth covers here. washington on top 1-0 and doing so in the game first's minute. it is the sixth time this year the capitals have scored in the game's first two minutes as they're working against the longest tenured coach in the business. an ice call in the city of the buffalo of new york. he played there. he was a captain. he played forward and defense. his longest tenured, as you mentioned, joe, getting the bench position back in 1997. the next guy closest to him is barry truce, the former captain in his own right. >> joe: doing a wonderful in the music city. karl alzner to key it u up for washington. we're nearing the five-minute mark on comcast sportsnet. we're thrilled to be in hd tonight. and backstrom. the unsuspecting ovechkin had that one go off of his boot. flipped back to center. alzner rams it in. and the capitals tag up and there is no off sides and montador waits. >> craig: and just to get back to your thought about nashville and the job that he is doing, you see a lot of similarities between these two teams. and buffalo and nashville. they get a lot

beats neuvirth. two whole wins over the capitals this season. they win it, 6-3. let's take you back to the hcc and listen in to coach bruce boudreau. >> i think what happens, you get a 2-0 lead real early. looks easy. you let up, don't do what you are supposed to be doing. a couple of chances you are way too casual on. all of a sudden they get one, then two, and they are sitting there saying, hey, boys, let's go. it is not like a tap. you can't turn it on and off and we count. the last half of the game, i thought we played pretty bad. >> and we are here to break it all down. guys, toskala finally got the a-game going. >> yes. a 3-0 hockey game and the caps were in it as much as the mapleleafs. but they did appear to be a tired team, maybe understandable after playing last night and nightmarish travel trying to get to toronto today. >> they left the young goalie out to dry and he didn't respond as well as he could have. in the 3rd period, he fatigued up. lost a face off. interviewerover play it is --over play it is puck. over plays it. a little too early on a powe