Ice hockey Olympics is wrapping up and some seriously good hockey is to come.  Your Washington Capitals will not be part of any medal round.

In a shocking defeat, the Russians were blown out of Vancouver by a suddenly resurgent Team Canada.  Canada came into the Olympics with a 'favored' status to win the gold, loaded on each Line.  After a shocking loss to Team USA, the Canadians have been on a mission to reassert their dominant status and have done just that.  Yesterday, the Canadians thumped the Russians 7-3, knowing Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin out of the Olympics and sending them back to Washington.  The head scratching thing to me about the Russian teams was two things.  One, why was there no goalie change at all during the 7-3 blowout?  Two, defense wins Olympic hockey and the Russians simply didn't have any.  We all had high hopes for the Russians because of the fire power of Ovechkin, Semin, Evgeni Malkin, and Pavel Datysuk, but the fact is, the Russian defense was porous and Canada exposed it badly.  Team Canada put up 42 shots on goal in a much anticipated match up.  In the end, the Russians went out with nothing short of a whimper.

My feeling is, this hurt for Great 8.  Let's hope Ovechkin channels that frustration going forward toward the ultimate prize, the Stanley Cup.

In another shocker, defending Gold Medal champs Sweden were defeated by the Slovaks 4-3.  It wasn't as big of an upset given the quality of hockey played by the Slovaks throughout the Winter Olympics thus far.  Nicklas Backstrom will join his fellow Caps in the flight out of Vancouver into Washington.  He exits leading the Swedes in scoring with 1 goal and 4 assist, 5 points.

Finally, Tomas Fleischmann can catch up to Backy, Ovie, and Semin for the flight home as the Czech Republic, another medal favorite exits after getting shutout by Finland 2-0.    What a great game by Calgary goalie Mikka Kiprusoff, stopping all 21 Swede shots for the win.

Your Capitals final stats:

Nicklas Backstrom (SWE), 1 goal, 5 assists (2nd in overall), 6 points (2nd overall), +1, 68.97 face off percentage (2nd overall)

Alex Ovechkin (RUS), 2 goals, 2 assists, 4 points, +1

Alexander Semin (RUS), 0 goals, 2 assists, 2 points, 0

Tomas Fleischmann (CZE)

Congrats to Nicklas Backstrom on a fine Olympic performance, finishing 2nd overall in Assists, Points, and Faceoff percentage,

Here is Jaromir Jagr's quote after the Russian/Czech game and the Ovechkin smashing hit on Jagr via Dmitry Chesnokov.

"I wish I had a concussion. That way I would forget Ovechkin quicker." Jaromir Jagr

In the opening salvos of Winter Olympics Hockey, the expected winners, USA, Canada, and Russian all held true, and posted opening wins.

Team Russia defeated Latvia 8-2 late last night.  The Great 8, Alexander Ovechkin, scored two of Russia's goal.  The first tally for Ovie came in the first period off an assist by fellow Cap Alexander Semin.  Ovechkin's goal put Russia up 3-1.  Other Russian first period goals came from Danis Zaripov and Alexander Radulov.  Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin scored the only second period goal to put Russia up 4-1.   Ovechkin, Zaripov, and Ilya Kovolchuk, Girts Ankipans, and AlexieMorozov batter Lativia in the third period.  Ovechkin's wrister was assited by Pavel Datysuk.

Evgeni Nabaokov stopped 18 of 20 shots for the win in the net.   Ovechkin scored 2 goals and put 4 shots on net.   Semin had 1 assist and 4 shots on goal.  Former Washington Capital Sergei Fedorov had 2 assists.

Team USA defeated Switzerland in it's Olympics opener.  USA got goals from Bobby Ryan, David Backes, and Ryan Malone to lift team USA to their first win.  Backes was a controversial selection, but took a big step proving his worth by getting on the scoring board.  Buffalo's Ryan Miller stopped 14 fo 15 shots for the win as the USA defense smothered Switzerland.

Team Canada man handled Norway 8-0.  Calgary's Jarome Igninla netted a hat trick and San Jose's Dan Heatley scored twice for the Canadians as they routed Norway and only allowed a total of 15 shots on a bored Roberto Luongo.    Mike Richards, Corey Perry, and Ryan Getzlaf each tallied.  Sidney Crosbu failed to score in the Canadian onslaught, but did add 3 assists.

On tap for today . . .

Belarus v. Finland

Slovakia v. Czech Republic.

Germany v. Sweden.

Two Caps in action today.  Nicklas Backstrom makes his Olympic debut today as defending gold medal winning Sweden opens up with Germany.  Tomas Fleischmann makes his debut as well as his Czech Republic teeam faces rival Slovakia.

The normally awful Washington Post editorial page publishes something decent for once:

THE HAPPY FACE of Washington sports (yes, we do have one) wears a gap-toothed grin and has an evil glint in his eye. It is, of course, the face of Alex Ovechkin, arguably the best player in ice hockey, especially if excellence is measured not only by goals scored but by willingness to throw oneself full tilt against an opponent who has a weight advantage of 60 pounds or so. Mr. Ovechkin is the captain of the Washington Capitals and the favorite of Caps fans. When he's on the road, he is the target of booing throughout the National Hockey League, which for Washington's followers is a pleasing novelty: to be both feared and loathed. Feared is especially nice.

Now, if we can just get the Post sports section to pay a little more attention to the city's best team [by far]...

The amazing season of Alexander Ovechkin continues.  He is on target to have his best season of his career; amazing, considering he missed 8 games.

Ovechkin now has 42 goals.  He has as many points in goals scored as the entire Edmonton Oilers have in standing points.

He leads the NHL with 42 goals.

He leads the NHL with 86 points.

He leads the NHL in Plus/Minus with a +41.

He leads the NHL in Shots on Goal with 266.

He leads the NHL in road goals scored.

He leads the NHL in goals per game, with .82.

His is 3rd in the NHL in home goals scored.

He is tied for 4th in power play goals.

He is tied for 4th in power play assists.

Ovechkin is 18 goals shy of 60 goals for the season.  There are 23 games left in the season.  He is 23 goals shy of his career high (2007/08 - 65) and he is 10 assists shy of his career high (2008/09 & 2005/06 - 54).  His 86 total points puts him 26 points shy of his career high in total points (2007/08).  He is a +41 and is currently +13 higher than his career high (2007/08 - +28).

Currently, Ovechkin has a 7 game scoring streak.  Over that streak, Ovechkin has scored 8 goals and 7 assists.

Ovechkin was suspended on DEC 1 on a knee to knee hit on Tim Gleasen.  Since that suspension, Ovechkin has played in 30 games, starting on December 7th.  In that 30 game stretch, Ovie has tallied 24 goals and added 32 assists with a +28 plus/minus rating.  He has averaged 1.87 points per game.

Ovechkin was on a complete tear in the month of January racking up 9 goals and 17 assists with a +16 rating in 15 games.  The question is, can he eclipse those monthly totals?  Well, he is off to a sensational start in February.  In 4 games, he has scored in each of the 4 games and has multiple points in 3 of the 4 games.  For February, Ovechkin has tallied 7 goals and 3 assists and is a +6.

The whispers and chants can seemingly get louder.   M    V     P.

It is one of those years, but yet, with Ovechkin, aren't they all?  What better scenario could the Caps faithful have realized yesterday?  Sidney Crosby strikes twice in the first period.  In most cases, that is completely deflating (at least Mike Milbury thought so).  Not at the Verizon Center.  Caps faithful have seen all too often how Great 8 can single handidly turn around a game that appeared to be slipping from the Sea of Red.

With two periods of hockey to play, Alexander Ovechkin took control.  Not only did the Caps faithful get to see Ovechkin pull the Caps back in from a 4-1 deficit, but they got to see the first Hat Trick of the season for the Caps, on home ice, with Sidney Corsby watching, on national TV, against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins.  How does that get any better?

Great 8 simply has Great HART!

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"You can tell when he's having one of his days, and when he's having one of his days. Days when I see that his recovery rate is unbelievable. He sits on the bench for 30 seconds and I know he wants to go again."

HC Bruce Boudreau on Alexander Ovechkin

The Washington Capitals trailed 4-2 after two periods but mounted a furious comeback at home against the hated Pittsburgh Penguins and won 5-4 in overtime on a Mike Knuble tip-in off an Alex Ovechkin slap shot only moments into a power play. The Caps are now 2-0 this year against the Penguins, with more to come.

Sidney Crosby scored 2 goals, but the star of this snowed-in Washington day was Alex Ovechkin, who poured in 3 goals and added an assist on the game-winner. The game was filled with mistakes by the Caps and the refs, but the team stayed with it and Ovechkin's two 3rd period goals tied the game up. Playing well below their best, the Caps needed a superstar performance from the best player in the world...and that's just what they got.

Photo by Mitchell Layton/NHLI via Getty Images

TEAM STAT COMPARISON
176	Goals	225
166	Goals Against	155
38	Power Play Goals	59
39	Power Play Goals Allowed	47
6	Shorthanded Goals	3
6	Shorthanded Goals Allowed	6
793	Penalty Minutes	685
14	Average Penalty Minutes	12

SCORING SUMMARY
1ST PERIOD			PIT	WAS
6:59		Sidney Crosby  Unassisted	1	0
9:59		Sidney Crosby (Power Play)  Assists: Evgeni Malkin, Alex Goligoski	2	0
2ND PERIOD			PIT	WAS
9:01		Alex Ovechkin  Assists: Jeff Schultz	2	1
11:43		Jordan Staal  Assists: Tyler Kennedy, Matt Cooke	3	1
13:07		Jordan Staal  Assists: Evgeni Malkin	4	1
17:12		Eric Fehr  Assists: Brendan Morrison	4	2
3RD PERIOD			PIT	WAS
6:51		Alex Ovechkin  Assists: Tom Poti, Nicklas Backstrom	4	3
11:06		Alex Ovechkin  Assists: Mike Knuble, Nicklas Backstrom	4	4
OT			PIT	WAS
2:49		Mike Knuble (Power Play)  Assists: Alex Ovechkin, Mike Green	4	5