Caps-Thrashers Live

Welcome to Verizon Center, where another big crowd will witness a (hark!) divisional match-up between the Caps and Atlanta Thrashers. Michal Neuvirth will oppose Kari Lehtonen in net. Staffan Kronwall and Michael Nylander are the healthy scratches.

It's time to play the game.

First Period
The Caps came out with abandon and quickly got the lead. As the Caps skated on the power play, Alex Semin got a pass from Sergei Fedorov and unleashed a wrister (with a little deke) to give the Caps a 1-0 lead.

As Semin scored, Eric Perrin got called for slashing and the Caps got another extra-man advantage. On the ensuing power play, the Caps extended their lead. Mike Green launched a wrist shot from the point. The puck trickled through Lehtonen's legs and Brooks Laich slammed home the rebound for his 15th goal of the season.

From there, the penalty mongers got two (Milan Jurcina and Matt Bradley, both for hooking) but the Caps were able to kill off the power plays.

As Alex Ovechkin was skating on a shift later in the period, Rich Peverley hit him in the face with his stick (drawing blood) and got no call at all. He then went after Marty Reasoner and got called for roughing but there was no call on the Thrashers. That is one of the most blatant missed calls I've seen in a long time. Hopefully, Peverley gets fined for cheap-shotting the league's best play.

And, of course, the Thrashers scored on the ensuing man-advantage. Slava Kozlov (no relation) passed it down low to Todd White, who zipped it weak side to a wide-open Ilya Kovalchuk, who netted his 32nd tally of the season. The goal was met with loud boos and tons of "ref, you suck" chants.

Ovechkin's next shift on ice was full of lots of energy from the MVP, who clearly wants to score a ton and hit more than usual. It doesn't look like a sell-out, but boy is it loud as usual.

Brasher also is ready to fight to protect Ovie.

After one: Caps 2, Thrashers 1

Second Period
The stanza started with some excitement as Ovechkin continued his reckless abandon on the Thrashers, which led to a fight between Donald Brashear and Eric Boulton. The skirmish didn't have many punches, more skating and tangling, but once Brash started pummeling Boulton, that was the end of that.

The Thrashers hit the Caps where it hurt the most, however, not too much later. Peverley got open between the circles at the blueline and beat Neuvirth easily to tie the game at two. Shaone Morrisonn, Tom Poti and Semin all seemed to blame for the opening.

From there, the Thrashers took four straight penalties but the Caps could only convert on one, despite lots of shots and good chances. Green scored his 16th power play goal of the season, his 23rd overall, off some great passing from Semin and Nicklas Backstrom. The marker ties the club record (with Scott Stevens) for most power-play goals by a defenseman in a season and gives Green the NHL lead in that category. It also was Backstrom's 50th assist of the season.

Laich got called for interference at 16:07, but the Caps killed it off and head to the third period with a one-goal lead.

After two: Caps 3, Thrashers 2.

Third Period
The final stanza began with up-and-down action, but nothing overly notable until David Steckel started the one-man cycling show. That lead to a pass back to Morrisonn at the point. He flubbed a shot, but it went right to Eric Fehr, who buried the puck past Lehtonen to give the Caps a two-goal lead. Fehr's shot appeared to change directions on the way in and Lehtonen seemed to have it for a second. It's Fehr's 10th goal of the season in 41 games.

Boyd Gordon then got called for high-sticking and the Caps were back on the PK, which they killed off easily.

The Caps got another power play at 8:48, but it didn't result in much. Green also had a mind-numbing hit on Peverley, which was one of his best checks ever.

The Caps got their eighth power play of the night at 16:12, which actually led to a shorthanded goal for Atlanta -- their sixth shortie in the last six games. Kovalchuk got the puck in the Caps zone after the Thrashers had cleared it. Ovechkin came down low to help Green, but Todd White was wide open in the slot and beat Neuvirth for his 16th of the year. It cut the Caps' lead to just one goal and the Thrashers decided to call a timeout (and pull Lehtonen) with 1:10 left.

The Caps held on, despite some late Atlanta pressure.

Final shots: Caps 40, Thrashers 24

Final: Caps 4, Thrashers 3

Postgame Thoughts
This game is further proof that the Caps' biggest need is a defenseman. Green and Poti have been relatively solid (Green's spectacular, obviously) but the rest of the blueliners leave a lot to be desired. Schultz might be No. 3 on that list, but Morrisonn, Jurcina and Erskine are usually wastes of space. Erskine could have been called for slashing about 10 times during the game -- mainly because he's slow and/or out of position.

There's no reason Karl Alzner shouldn't be up with the big club. GMGM needs to make the cap room and also focus on defense at the trade deadline. Some might argue that Fedorov plays better defense than some of the current crop.

Kozlov played well in his return as did Neuvirth.

It's also somewhat unbelievable that the Caps doubled the Thrashers on the shot tally, yet only won by one goal.