they rely on holding the puck a lot. all about transitioning and moveing the puck. that works well. and kaberle uses a hockey stick, honestly, that a 12- year-old could use, quick easily. and right there, a save! rebound home. and knocked him down. inside! great save. that is a game that could have been thrown off in the 1st period if not for soses' catching glove. it is in the right position here. look where it is. he is wanting him to shoot there. he is saying shoot there, i am ready. he is just been solid with the catcher. >> joe: we were talking about changing the angle on the side blocker and going low blocker side, and he still runs high gloves. how with you go low whether you use an ovechkin stick. >> greg: well, he is looking forward to getting a stick with his own name on it. right now he is still using an old stick when he start indeed atlanta. 6 minutes separating us. three goals in the second period. caps with a 2-0 advantage after one. back-to-back. now, backstrom has the lead for a moment. round and round. and lost the edge there. over to the front. orr looking to stop

i thought he wasover playing pucks early --over playing pucks early on.losing track of the puck like that. you can't -- it is a pretty simple shot from outside. tough hang on to that and he didn't recover very well. a little while later, same thing. no doubt about it for him. that is really something. he has to be outside of the crease. the puck stop. shoots it, possibly, hagman shoots it over the top to have net. i am not sure what happened to him there. just over thinking, being a young goal-tender that he is. he was definitely rattled i recall. he started out very good in the first 5 or 10 minutes to have game but he got rattled after that. >> he did very good at the american hockey league level. but if you see the quality of the shots that kessel and hagman can release, compared to what he has seen game in and game out in the lower league, said kind of rude awakening, isn't it? >> they are great players, for sure. at that time same time, you have a young goal-tender in there. tighten up, play better defensive game, not let so many shots on him. what i

there's schultz bobbling the puck. right to the edmonton oilers, and here comes the oilers, right n all alone. o'sullivan, the follow up to horcoff, 1-0 edmonton oilers. there >> joe: horcoff getting it. ovechkin and the caps are offside on the rush. >> craig: tough couple of games for scultzy. last night off his skate boot. here he coughs one up the middle with his partner not around. his team now trails by one on the giveaway, trying to pass up the middle, joe. >> joe: edmonton in washington, locker, each team with the same amount of wins in december. both won five times. the oilers were outstanding on the road trip of their own, took five straight but then they have had problems winning inside their own barn. jumping to the advantage by the blue. >> craig: the first time ever in the history of the franchise they went 5-0. and they beat some big one. dallas, florida, tampa bay, and st. louis. as you look at the numbers for pat quinn, starts off well. november a bit of a dive. december, back up to the numbers he was e

they kept the puck away from alex, and when he did get the puck, joe, i thought he tried too hard. he has to relax, going to have to relax tonight against the oilers for the caps to finish off the road trip. >> craig, there's only been a few times when the great eight get 0 points. >> no question, just five games. multipoint games from 12-27. seven multipoint games. the last seven games, one assist, and he's simply not getting his shots through. usually up to five shots a game. he's had five the last two. >> as for the other alex, he seemed to have a more eventful night. all over several critical moments in the game. >> when they were focused on alex ovechkin, they were hoping someone would be free, and he was. that was a knuckler. driving the penalty shot as he drives to the net. grabs from behind, gets the hold. here's alex semin on the penalty shot, busted early, then stands slightly on it as he has the left toe save. >> check out the numbers, he's been one of dc's best in december. three goals the last or five goal in the last eight returning from his wrist injury. a plus playe

rather than diving on the puck. you cannot do that. good call by the referee here tonight. if you go by those numbers at the bottom of the screen [ inaudible ] the capitals in the first two meetings with toronto, just 1-7. green was the game winner here an evening ago. green sliding between defenders. and one power play all right sometimes, but this has allowed 2 power play goals or more in four of the last five games. he and white hoisted back into their enneighborhood. >> joe: rob wilson to change the penalty kill hes, the former -- capitals coach. not able to get around him. 2 minute mark of the scoreless first so far. and ovechkin scores! a rocket from the great 8. that is goal number 21 for alex ovechkin, as the game starts with the nhl. tied with the scoring lead. bad early penalty bigoses and the caps -- dish toskala, the goal-tender often has to be the best penalty killer and toskala actually has to stop this one, joe. he should have been out further in the crease. that one goes through him and short sides o

the pouncing puck. 2-0 caps.has scored in two straight games. caps on the power play, semin steals the puck from former cap jeff ha burn, he will set up fleishman, his shot will be saved but, oh, he is in the right place at the right time, ovie, 3-0 caps. simeon varlamov was unbelievable between the pipes notching his second career shutout. the caps win it 3-0, it's their #th straight win over tampa, a franchise record streak against one team. and let's get you back down to the sunshine state now and bring in joe beninati and craig laughlin. when ovie and semin are not trying to be too cute, gentlemen, they are one successful duo. >> they sure are. i mean they just dominated tonight. i think i find that both those guys get cute when they know the game is out of reach. this caps team put it together, joe, a full 60 minutes, which allowed semin and ovie to have a little trickery and fun? lisa one of my favorite lines today was from bruce boudreau, we're going to go with backstrom, ovechkin and semin but soon as the

could move the puck, handle the puck. myself brought some creativity.some passing and speed with my skating. all these things kind of just mesh together. >> then this year's production which could turn out similarly to his best years in vancouver. >> best production has always been when brenden morrow has been healthy. he was an ironman in the nhl and look at his points in games played. last two seasons he has been banged up. this season back to being healthy and productive for the caps. >> facing a challenge is what a roberto luongo lives for and dives all around the rink for. jose theodore no slouch in the reflex department. using his catlike abilities perfectly. next on csn. >> joe: hottest ticket in town on a friday night in vancouver inside gm place. nhl on comcast sportsnet. one and only meeting between the capitals and canucks. joe and craig with you. >> craig: two canadians facing off against each other. one of the best goalies. roberto luongo going for win number 16. a beauty between goaltenders and teams here tonight in vancouver. >> joe: been

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 from the finish line. with washington on top by 2, and the oilers diagramming some strategy, morgan franklin pivotal play. >> craig: just on the wrap around, again two shots on it. keeping the goal tender along the ice. poor defense in

it's an interview you'll only see on comcast sports net and the puck will drop in a few minutes. we'll head back to verizon center to get the latest. geico sports night returns after this. is emily, and in 7 years... i'll be an alcoholic. all: hi, emily. announcer: kids who drink before age 15 are 5 times more likely to have alcohol problems when they're adults. so start talking before they start drinking. >>> welcome back, devin thomas fred davis and malcolm kelly, finally showing promise. last week thomas had 100 yards receiving. it's the first time any of the three topped the mark. kelli johnson talked one on one with thomas, it's an interview you'll only see on comcast sports net. >> i know a lot of people can look at the scene and say it would be easy to fold the tent and say, you know, whatever on the season. you guys have kind of all moles it seems like performed better as a team. it's like you come together through all the loss. >> yeah, it's weird. it's like i think guys really just came together knowing that all the things we've been through, guys going down and just ki

puck out to regan. mike fisher, the rebound. carrie ubnderwood, your thought? the sabres. >>> thrashers trying to win three-straight. kind of scary here. spot shadow now. zach bogosian going to hit kulikov in the neck. right in the neck. he would be okay. we pick it up in the third now. tied at three. >> got it to weiss. weiss doesn't want to go that far. on the backhand, save, rebound, score. fro is my bro. >> is he? frohlich with the goal. >>> whether you call them companion deals or just as you see it, either way, it's complicated. everything became official on wednesday. cliff lee is a mariner, and roy halladay is now a philly. he leaves toronto for three years and $60 million. >> it was an easy decision for me. i think once the opportunity came up to be apart of this, it was something i couldn't pass up. you know, i'm overwhelmed with, you know, this opportunity and looking forward to what could be, so, you know, for me, it's kind of a two-part thing, but i'm excited to be able to continue that, the chance to try and play in the postseason and ultimately w

interviewerover play it is --over play it is puck. over plays it. a little too early on a power play. they race down the eyes. ovechkin back. nothing left in the tank. trying to reach it. and shorthanded goal there. very good shot. not enough there. doesn't even get a shot. a little while later, semin in the 3rd period. huge save by toskala. i thought it was light us out after that. >> we saw a tail end of how good toskala was t. road trip against in toronto. they head out west. they don't see the western conference that much. how difficult is it with the travel and teams you don't see that often. >> i think the team in the western conference skate a lot more. they play a free flowing game out there. you move to colorado to play in the rocky mountain air. sit tough on the system and it is a tired hockey season, you don't know what you are getting into, it will come back to bite you. >> well, thank you, gentlemen. >> caps will head out, as the gentlemen said, to the mountains. next up, washington's varlamov is eligible to return on tuesday. i know ca