Weekly Snapshot, Dec. 28

Record/Standings Position: 24-8-6 (54 points), 1st Southeast Division/1st Eastern Conference/2nd NHL

Last Week's Games:
* Won, 5-2, vs. Buffalo
* Won, 4-1, vs. New Jersey

This Week's Games:
* Tonight vs. Carolina Hurricanes (7 p.m., CSN-HD)
* Wednesday at San Jose Sharks (10 p.m., CSN-HD)
* Saturday at Los Angeles Kings (4 p.m., CSN-HD)

Injuries: Boyd Gordon (currently on conditioning stint in Hershey), Brian Pothier (injured list), Semyon Varlamov (day-to-day), Tom Poti (day-to-day). Total Man-Games Lost: 144.

Recent Transactions: Assigned Boyd Gordon to Hershey for conditioning (Dec. 23).

Top Storylines:
* Alex Semin signed a one-year contract extension; will Nick Backstrom's (presumably-longer) extension be next?
* Olympic fever has spread throughout the Caps: Backstrom's on Team Sweden; Semin, Alex Ovechkin and Semyon Varlamov are on Team Russia along with former Caps Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov. (Other roster announcements coming this week.)
* The Caps are still undefeated against the Southeast Division (8-0) and hold a 14-point lead over their closest competitor, the Atlanta Thrashers. They have five division games in January.

Top Line (Who's Hot?): Ovechkin (three points in three straight games), Backstrom (202 career points, nobody else in the 2006 draft class has 150), Michal Neuvirth (starting to show that he's worthy of staying in the NHL long-term).

Scratches (Who's Not?): the power play (scored four times Dec. 5 at Philly, only three goals since); Jose Theodore (his departure from Washington may have been expedited with Neuvirth's recent play); Milan Jurcina/Shaone Morrisonn/Brian Pothier (recent play hasn't shown that they want to return to D.C. next season as they're pending UFAs).