Game #8 Recap: Capitals 4 Thrashers 3 (OT)

It took overtime but the Capitals found a way to pull out the victory. After recalling two forwards and a goalie from Hershey, the team was still short handed as Mike Green made his return but he only played when the Caps had the man advantage. With a 5-man defensive rotation, the Caps were out shot in the early going 21-6. Michael Nuevirth was back in the net and was doing his thing. Nuevirth stopped 29 of 32 shots on the night including several odd man breakaways. This included getting run over by 260 pound Dustin Byfuglien on a partial break. John Erskine came to the rescue and in the aftermath Byfuglien was ejected and given a major charging penalty while Erskine had to sit 2-minutes for roughing. The story of the night for the Capitals was the play of the second line. Alexander Semin had a natural hat trick and Mathieu Perreault, making his season debut, had two assists. The line played inspired hockey all night. In the overtime period the Caps took control as they out shot Atlanta 6-0. The game winner came from Tomas Fleischmann who backhanded the rebound of Eric Fehr's wicked wrist shot.

Of Note:

• Prior to the game Mathieu Perreault, Jay Beagel, and Dany Sabourin were recalled from Hershey due to injuries to Marcus Johansson, Boyd Gordon and Seymon Varlamov.
• Alexander Semin recorded the 4th hat trick of his career. He scored on a slap shot, wrist shot and a backhander.
• Alex Ovechkin recorded 6 shots on goal giving him 2,200 in his career. He is already 3rd on the Capitals All-Time shots on goal list behind Mike Gartner and Peter Bondra. His big contribution last night was his physical play. He delivered 9 hits including 3 devastating body checks that definitely left a mark.
• Brooks Laich played in his 400th game as a Capital. He was +2 on the night with 6 shots on goal, 2 hits and he went 5-0 in the face-off dot.
• The Capitals, as a team, were much better on face-offs winning 41 of 61 draws.
• The team leaves on its first extended road trip starting Wednesday in Carolina.

Official Recap
Game Summary
Event Summary