We have been awaiting the return of Alex Ovechkin all season. 

No, not from injury.  From mediocrity. 

And he has arrived.

Suddenly, the Washington Capitals, who seemingly looked destined for a top draft pick and a missed playoff season , are in the running for a playoff spot and a possible division title.  The Caps sit just 5 points out of the Southeast Division lead and just 3 points out of the 8th playoff spot.  Credit can be spread through the roster for a resurgence.  The team looks as if it has finally grasped the system of new head coach Adam Oates.  They look as if they now understand their roles within the system.  They are executing much more effectively.  All that is true.  However, much credit also lies with the heavily criticized team captain, Alex Ovechkin. 

Ovi took criticism from every direction, including this blog and from this writer.  Lately, he has transformed himself into, well, himself of years past.  Ovechkin is scoring.  Ovechkin is assisting.  Ovechkin seems energized.  That can only be good news for the Caps going forward.   

This week, Ovechkin was selected as the NHL's First Star of the Week. He is in the midst of a five point scoring streak and a five game goal scoring streak.  His 8 points in the last four games have sparked the capitals to back to back wins over Southeast leading Wiunnipeg and a big win over the 8th playoff spot holder New York Rangers.  Huge wins.  Ovi has put together 8 goals and 8 assist in the month of March, that saw the Caps improve to 8-5 for the month.  Since the awful 4-0 shutout loss to Carolina on March 12, where Ovi never even recorded a single shot on net, Ovechkin has not had under 4 shots on net since then.  Since that ugly loss to Carolina, Ovi has recorded 7 goals, 4 assists, 35 shot son goal, and 22 hits in 7 games.  Even more important, with a surging Ovechkin's also comes the rising of Nicklas Backstrom.  During the Ovi's five game scoring streak, Backstrom has recorded 2 goals and 5 assists for 7 points. 

When Ovechkin is producing, Line 1 is producing.  When Line 1 is producing, the Caps win.  That is precisely what they missed in the earlier part of the season. 

The Washington Capitals defeated the New York Rangers at the Garden in a 3-2 shootout last night to gain two more very valuable standing points.  Once thought to be a playoff after thought, with the 2 points last night, the Caps now have 31 points, just 3 points behind the 8th playoff spot and 5 points behind Southeast Division leading Winnipeg.  The Caps are surging, having gained 8 points in their last 10 games. 

The Caps stunned the Rangers in the first period, picking up two early goals against Henrik Lundqvist.  The first tally came from Nicklas Backstrom, who deflected an Alex Ovechkin shot on net, to give the Caps an early 1-0 lead.  It was Backstrom's 5th goal of the season and was assisted by Ovechkin and John Carlson.  Ovechkin would give the Caps a 2-0 lead less than two minutes later, scoring his 16th tally of the season.  Steve Oleksy and Backstrom picked up helpers. 

The lead would dissipate in the last few minutes of the first period as the Caps fell into penalty trouble, leading to one Ranger power play goal.  Arom Ashan dwindled the Caps lead to 2-1 scoring on a 2 on 1 breakaway at the 14:12 mark of the first period.  Wouldn't take the Rangers long to knot the game up after Washington took 2 penalties and went down in a 5 on 3 power play by the Rangers.  Derek Stephan tied the game up just 10 seconds into the two man advantage to tie it up at 2-2.  

Neither the Caps or Rangers would muster any additional offense in regulation or over time forcing a shootout.  Washington took the lead in the shoot out on a tally by Ovechkin.  However, Dereek Stephan would score on Braden Holtby forcing a fourth round.  After Brad Richards missed for New York, Nicklas Backstrom scored to gain the ever important two points for the Caps in the Garden. 

Holtby picked up his third straight win to improve to 13-10 on the season.  Ovewrall, he stopped 28 of 30 shots on net. 

Caps Streaks:

Alex Ovechkin has a FIVE game points treak and a FIVE game goal scoring streak.  Ovi has a THREE game multi-point streak. 

Braden Holtby has won THREE straight games.

Nicklas Backstrom has a THREE game point streak and a THREE game assist streak.

John Carlson has a THREE game point streak and a THREE game assist streak.

Maybe there is a market for Redskins free agent tight end Fred Davis after all. It was thought that Cleveland might be the only other potential suitor and when they signed Kellen Davis this week, Davis re-signing with the Burgundy and Gold seemed a matter of when, not if.

Enter the Buffalo Bills. Most of the Buffalo brain trust was in town over the weekend and took Davis out to dinner to discuss his future. New head coach Doug Marrone, general manager Buddy Nix, along with other Bills officials all made the trip to town from upstate New York according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

The 27 year old Davis has spent his entire career with the 'Skins, since he was drafted in the second round out of Southern Cal. Davis is recovering from an Achilles injury suffered in week seven last season. Washington has been trying to low ball Davis, due in large part to limited funds thanks to the NFL imposed cap penalties.

Dr James Andrews [center] looks down at injured Robert Griffin III

Washington Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III injured the LCL in his right knee in a week 14 win over the Baltimore Ravens. He missed one game before returning to the starting lineup, but in the first round of the NFC playoffs he tore the LCL and ACL in the same knee. It is the same knee he injured in college at Baylor. Since then, Griffin has had surgery and has been rehabbing under the direction of Dr James Andrews, considered by many to be the foremost orthopedic surgeon on the planet. 

Griffin was seen walking, briefly, without crutches at the Heisman Trophy presentation, but since then we've heard little about the state of his rehabilitation. Today Dr Andrews broke his silence: 

"I've been real mum on talking too much about RG III. He wants his recovery to be fairly private, but I can tell you he's way ahead of schedule. His recovery has been unbelievable so far," Andrews told ESPN.

"RG III is one those superhumans. First patient I ever had like that was Bo Jackson. And recently I, of course, had Adrian Peterson, who is also superhuman. They have an unbelievable ability to recover, where as a normal human being may not be able to recover."

While Redskins Head Coach Mike Shanahan has said he hopes RG3 will be back to start week one he has been unwilling to commit to any timetable for the young quarterback's return. 

"For me to tell you anything at this time is kind of ludicrous," Shanahan said Thursday. "All I can tell you, though, is when you've got a guy who's got the flexibility that he has, he's got the strength, he's got the desire to be the best at what he does, usually good things happen.

"He's in there every day. He's working out six, eight hours a day. He's got great strength and great flexibility, and that gives him a chance to hopefully be ready for the season, right? I don't know."

Griffin appeared in an Adidas commercial asserting that he's all in for week one, but later wrote on Twitter that he would not compromise his career by returning too early. 

Griffin won the Associated Press 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award after leading the Redskins to their first division title since 1999 and setting an NFL record for best passer rating by a rookie quarterback. If Griffin is not ready to start week one his backup Kirk Cousins, who performed admirably in relief of him last year, will take the starting role. In any case, expect Cousins to get most, if not all, the work at quarterback with the starters in training camp and preseason later this year. 

The Washington Wizards limped into Los Angeles last night, dragging their wounded with them. They leave the City of Angels with their heads held high, having just conquered one of the hottest teams in the NBA on their own court, 103-100. The Wizards played without two starters -- guard Bradley Beal [ankle] and center Emeka Okafor [flu] and key reserve guard AJ Price [groin], while the Lakers got healthier with the return of two stars, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. It is the second straight win for the Wizards, who improved their record to 25-43, 7-26 on the road. The Lakers' 7-game home winning streak came to an end. The win is Washington's first road triumph over the Lakers since 2006.

The Wizards were tentative to start the game and allowed a Lakers team that has been surging with confidence lately to jump on top of them quickly. Bouyed by 68% shooting, Los Angeles led 35-19 after one quarter, a 16-point lead they would still hold at halftime. Washington was getting decent looks in the first half, but they just couldn't put the ball in the hoop, while the Lakers had no problems scoring. Dwight Howard dominated early, as Wizards Head Coach Randy Wittman saw his plan of putting Jason Collins on Howard falter immediately. Howard had no trouble getting good looks at the basket and wound up hitting 8 of the 9 shots he took all night.

The two teams both scored 22 points in the second quarter, sending the game to halftime with the Lakers up 57-41. Former Wizards teammate Antawn Jamison came off the bench in the first half to score 9 points on 4-5 shooting, but he would cool off in the second half. 

The third quarter belonged to the Wizards and reserve forward Trevor Ariza, who hit a career-high 7 3-pointers to score 25 points on just 15 shots. He also grabbed 4 rebounds and dished 4 assists. The Wizards chipped away at the Lakers' lead, knocking it down from 16 to 11 as the teams entered the home stretch of the third quarter. That's when the Wizards exploded, finishing the third on an 11-2 run, punctuated by an Ariza 3-pointer and a sweet John Wall move that sent him blowing past local boy Steve Blake and into the paint for a beautiful layup. When the buzzer sounded to end the third, Washington had cut the LA lead to 74-72. 

Ariza's hot hand bled over into the fourth quarter, as he knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 79 and then drove for a layup to give the Wiz an 81-79 lead with just under 9 minutes left in the game. The lead then shifted back and forth as both teams fought furiously for an advantage. Kobe Bryant [21 points, 11 assists], who was content to be a passer rather than a shooter for the first three quarters, suddenly took over for the Lakers and tried to carry the team over the finish line by himself. Bryant scored 13 of his 21 points in the final period and his back-to-back jumpers put the Lakers up 96-94. 

However, the Wizards were far from done and Nene scored five of his 15 points in the final minutes. Wall fed Nene in the paint on back-to-back possessions and the Wizards big man hit hook shots over Dwight Howard [20 points, 15 rebounds] to put Washington up 98-96, a lead they would not relinquish. John Wall got fouled and calmly sank two free throws to put the WIz up 101-97, but Kobe Bryant came right back to hit a three pointer to cut the lead to 101-100. With two seconds left the Lakers fouled Wall again and once again he hit two free throws to put Washington up 103-100. Kobe Bryant's desperation 3-pointer bounced off the front of the rim and the Wizards emerged with their victory. 

"I've won twice against the Lakers, once at home, and just to come here and win my first game ever at Staples Center is great," Wall said. "We just knew what our team was, we're one of the top defensive teams, and when we play defense and play the right way, we have a chance. We just have a lot of heart and character."

Wall finished with 24 points and a career-high 16 assists, 6 rebounds and only one turnover. The young point guard continues to get better and better, making the case that the Wiz have no choice but to lock him up long term no matter what it costs. Martell Webster scored 13 points, Garrett Temple scored 10 and had 6 rebounds. Trevor Ariza wasn't the only one contributing off the bench -- Kevin Seraphin scored 12 points and pulled down 5 boards in 29 minutes. 

Top-seeded Alabama knocked off defending NIT champion Stanford 66-54 this afternoon in second round NIT play. The victory by the Crimson Tide means the Terrapins take their show on the road for quarterfinal play on Tuesday night in Tuscaloosa.

Obviously, the level of competition increases greatly from this point on. A victory by Maryland on Tuesday night will send the Terps into the NIT FInal Four at Madison Square Garden. Top seeds Virginia and Southern Miss remain alive, but as has been well documented, top overall seed Kentucky was upset by Robert Morris earlier this week.

The Terps beat Denver 62-52 on Thursday night in College Park to advance to the quarterfinals.

The Washington Capitals put themselves in much better position the past two days.  After a huge win over the Southeast Division leading Winnipeg Jets last night, the Caps pounded the jets 6-1 tonight to complete a 4 point pickup in two days. 

Alexander Ovechkin extended his goal scoring streak to four consecutive games, tallying twice tonight to help lift the Caps.  Ovi has recorded 5 goals and 7 total points over his last 4 games. 

The Caps got on the board in the first period with a Brooks Laich tally at the 12:10 mark of the first period.   It was Laich's first goal of the season, having just made his season debut three games ago from an injury that derailed him from the start of the shortened season.  Laich now has a goal and an assist and is a +4 in his three games this season.  The Laich goal was assisted by Mike Ribeiro.   Troy Brouwer scored his 12th of the season four minutes later to give Washington a 2-0 first period lead.  Brouwer extended his point streak to four consecutive games.  Brouwer's tally was assisted by Ribeiro and Steve Oleksy.  Credit for the Brouwer goes to Ribeiro for a sensational feed that led to the goal.   Caps took a 2-0 lead into the intermission, despite being out shot 10-7. 

The Caps added two more in the second period.  Jay Beagle added his second marker of the season near the six minute mark to put the Caps up 3-0.  Joel Ward and Matt Hendricks added helpers.  The Beagle marker chased Winnipeg goal Ondrej Pavelec from the game being replaced by Al Montoya.  Less than two minutes later, Ovechkin welcomed Montoya tot he game with his first of the night and his 14th of the season.  Ovi's bomb was assisted by Marcus Johansson and Karl Alzner.  Again, despite being out shot 12-9 in the second period, the Caps put up two goals, while Braden Holtby continued blanking the Jets.  Though Holtby played well through two period, much credit can go to the Caps defense that kept the puck to the outside and limited scoring opportunities on Holtby.  

Mike Green fired a bomb from back near the blue line to score his third goal of the season and give the Caps an insurmountale 5-0 lead.   Dmitry Orlov and Johansson added helpers on the Green tally.  Dustin Byfuglien broke up Holtby's bid for his third consecutive shut out with a goal near the half way point of third period.   Ovechkin added his 15th of the season later in the third period on the Caps power play to complete the scoring and seal the Caps 6-1 win.  John Carlosn and Nicklas Backstrom added assists. 

Washington's 6-1 rout of Winnipeg featured 14 different Caps players garnering a point.  The win improved the Caps to 14-16-1 on the season.  The Caps now have 29 standing points and sit just 3 points out of the 8th playoff spot.  Picking up 4 points on Winnipeg in two days has also pulled the caps within 5 points of the Southeast Division lead. 

Multi-Point Scorers:

Marcus Johansson, 2 assists

Alex Ovechkin, 2 goals

Mike Ribeiro, 2 assists

Caps Scoring Streaks:

Troy Brouwer, FOUR game point streak

Alex Ovechkin, FOUR point game streak, FOUR game goal scoring streak
 

No, not that Davis.... The Cleveland Browns have signed veteran tight end Kellen Davis to a one-year deal. A fifth round pick in the 2008 NFL draft, Davis had spent his entire career with the Chicago Bears. Davis started 30 games over the past two seasons, but combined for only 37 catches for 435 yards.

Good news and bad news about this signing. The good news, this almost assures that the Redskins will be bringing Fred Davis back for the 2013 season. The bad news, did Cleveland like the potential of having Kellen better than Fred? The tight end position figures to be prominent in new Browns coach Rob Chudzinski's offense. New Offensive Coordinator Norv Turner is reportedly excited about the potential Jordan Cameron brings to the offense.

Cleveland recently signed veteran tight end Gary Barnidge (Carolina), but lost last year's starter, Ben Watson, who signed with New Orleans in free agency. Cameron is projected as Cleveland's starter and will be entering his third season this Fall. Cameron was a fourth round pick in 2011 out of USC. Ironically, Cameron was recruited by the Trojans as the eventual replacement for the departing Fred Davis in 2008.

The Washington Capitals have put themselves in a situation where nearly every game is absolutely crucial.  Tonight was a huge must for the Caps, playing Southeast Division leader Winnipeg on the road.  The Caps got the big road win led by two first period tallies. 

Troy Brouwer started the Caps off scoring at just over 3 minutes to start the game to give the Caps an early 1-0 lead.  It was Brouwer's 11th goal ofmthe season.  Brooks Laich added the helper.  Marcus Johansson added Washington's second goal, his 4th of the season.  The Johansson tally came at the 16:22 mark and was assisted by Alex Ovechkin. Caps outshot the Jets 10-8 in the first period.

Caps and Jets skated to a scoreless second period.  Shots on net were low, with Winnipeg out shooting the Caps just 4-3. 

The Caps got the first insurance tally with 5:54 left in the game with a power play goal by Ovechkin.  Ovechkin's 13th goal, of the season was beautifully fed by Nicklas Backstrom across ice.  It was Ovi's 9th power play goal.  He finished the night with adhere point night, recording a goal and two assists.   Ovi paid the favor back at the 1:38 mark, feeding Backstrom for his 4th goal of the season to give the Caps the 4-0 lead, which is where the final score ended. 

The win improves Braden Holty to 11-10 on the season.  With the blanking of the Jets, Holtby recorded his 4th shut out of the season and a back to back shutout.  

The win improves the Caps to 13-16-1 with 27 points and into a third place tie with Tampa Bay in the Southeast. The win also pulls the Caps to within 7 points of the Jets.

The Washington Capitals announced tonight that the team has designated RW Joey Crabb as a non-roster player with the intention of placing him on waivers tomorrow at noon. Should he clear, he will be assigned to the AHL's Hershey Bears on Saturday.

Crabb was signed to a one-year, $950,000 contract on July 1st, but has struggled to regain the form that saw him post 26 points in 67 games with the Toronto Maple Leafs last year, and with just two goals to his name through 26 games this season, he had fallen behind the likes of Eric Fehr and Mathieu Perreault in the Caps depth chart.

With Mike Green returning to action, the Caps had to make a roster move, and chose to sacrifice Crabb over fellow healthy scratches Aaron Volpatti and Wojtek Wolski. Of course, Crabb's time with the Caps was short, but we wish him all the best in the future after the premature end to his Verizon Center career.