On the Ice: Quick Caps notes

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The Washington Capitals put up a nice 3-1 lead over Carolina last night, but allowed a goal early in the third period to make the game interesting the rest of the way, in a 3-2 over the Carolina Hurricanes. 

*  Alexander Ovechkin broke an 8 game goal drought, adding a goal, an assist, 8 shots on goal, and finished a +2.  Welcome back Alex. 

*  Mathieu Perreaultscored the opening tally, his 5th of the season.  Shortly there after, Perreault was hammered by Carolina's Tim Gleason, breaking Perreault's nose and forcing him from the game.  Gleasenwas nailed with a 5 minute major and an ejection from the game.  Perreault has 5 goals in his 9 games since being recalled from Hershey.  Perreault's broken nose has him listed on the Capos injury report as day to day. 

*  Perreault and rookie Marcus Johansson received a 'maintenance' day today and did not practice.  Johansson also took a hard knock last night, but was able to continue playing. 

*  Semyon Varlamovpicked up the win last night, snapping a 4 game losing streak.  Varly stopped 33 of 35 shots on net to improve his overall record to 5-4-1 with a GAA of 2.49.

*  Washington's win last night evened out thier road record to 8-8-1, a far cry from last season, when the Caps posted a 24-10-7 road mark.  The win also kept the caps tied with Tampa Bay for the Southeast top spot.  Both teams have 47 points.  Tampa Bay defeated Atlanta last night 3-2.  Washington's win pulled them within 3 points of East leading Pittsburgh, who fell to Ottawa last night.

*  Look ahead ---  the road ahead for the Caps does not look friendly and includes some very big games.  Tomorrow the Caps face a hot Montreal Canadians club that is in a near tie race as well with Philadelphia.  The Caps take the Habs in Verizon Center tomorrow.  After that is the much awaited for, highly anticipated Winter Classic showdown at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh with the Penguins on New Years Day.  The three days later, the Caps have a huge Verizon Center show down with Tampa Bay, the co-Southeast leader.   HUGE three games coming up next for Caps. 

Caps Streaks:

*  Caps have won TWO straight on the road and since snapping a 8 game losing streak, have won 3 of the last 4. 

*  Mike Green has a TWO game point streak.

*  Brooks Laich has a FOUR game point streak and a FOUR game assist streak.

*  Alexander Semin has a TWO game point streak.