Well, the hype is Ovie for the 50th tonight- we shall see; I hope he gets it.

Cool video of AO at practice this morning, practicing his "celebration"- black T, black shorts, no socks, and bright yellow tennis/boat shoes. He raises the stick high over his head with one hand, in a Statue of Liberty pose..... and breaks into a huge smile.

I really think the "pie" thing the other night let all the pressure off this guy, and he's liable to put on a show the Atlanta fans won't forget for a while.

Meanwhile, here's a nice article on Witt from NHL.com:

http://www.nhl.com/columns/wigge/witt041206.html

Game on, and it's Kolzig vs. Dunham in the nets.

Stoppage :13 in.... Hartley has the checkers on Ovechkin's line early, and I'm going to guess often tonight- they're going to have to earn their points.

and at 1:11, the Caps score!!!! Willsie from Halpern & Heward! The crowd goes deathly quiet...

Steckel is up tonight, Sutherby out of the lineup.

5:00 in, and it's been almost all Caps to this point.

Best chance on the PP? Pettinger, short-handed! He got stopped, but controlled the puck for a good bit, then sent it the length of the ice back to the Dman to kill some time.

Now with :19 left in the PP, the Caps put it off the ice to go 2 men down.

2-manner killed, back to more 5 on 4 for the Thrash.....

Kovalchuk scores easily.

1-1.

And about 1:00 later (9:47 gone), Kolzig lets an easy Bondra SOG get by him.

2-1, Thrash.

Now the Caps get a PP off a holding call.....

Willsie clangs one off the post....

Ovie whiffs on a cross-ice pass from Zubrus....

and killed.

AND OVECHKIN POTS IT JUST AFTER THE PENALTY EXPIRES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2-2.

edit: from the -ger boys... Emin, and Pettin.

Killed again, but at least they got a couple shots, this time.

Back to ES at 3:45 left 1st.

Interview: "Well, we play good 10 minutes, then we do 2 penalties, and they score goals; then we score goal I score goal, and we tie. Second period may be good game."

(holding up his record puck the whole time. BIG smile.) 

Around the League: Jagr has scored to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead over the Pens (and himself a 3 point lead over Thornton for the moment). Tucker for the Leafs, Nillson for the Isles (1-1 game). Kovalev and Bulis give the Habs a 2-0 lead over Boston.

2nd on in Atlanta, penalty killed.

Remember above, where I said Zubrus cross-ice to Ovechkin (and they missed)?

Payback- AO across to Zubrus, and he powers it into the twine!!!!

3-2, Caps.

Ovechkin's assist ties him with Juneau (102) for rookie points as a Cap- Dale Hawerchuk next on the list (103).

Before I could type all that, Kozlov ties it up again.

3-3.

Hi. I've missed the weekend games (busy), plus Monday's game (forgot that one), but I'm back for Ovechkin's 50th goal!

Also: Bondra 20, Willsie 18. I believe we've traded all of our vets at the right moment. Without Konowalchuk, Gonchar, Lang, Nylander and Bondra in our lineup, other players had the opportunity to score 15-20 goals... young guys that are part of our future. Good for them, and for the Caps. Kudos to Zubrus, Clark, Pettinger, Willsie, Clymer and Sutherby. Hope we make the playoffs next season.

Goal scoring race:

Jagr 54
Kovalchuk 52
Cheechoo 51
Ovechkin 50

Cheechoo is playing later tonight.

Bulis, Zednik and Zubrus each have a goal tonight. Linden is playing later tonight.

Crosby has given a 2-1 lead to the Penguins over the Rangers with his 38th goal.

Hi All and I just came by to let my friend TAK have it. I know no Cap fan is too happy with Jaromir but give me a break. No name on the Hart yet. It has to be Jagr's or I will just cry and of all players to be breathing down JJ's neck the ass hole that named him (JJ) puff nuts

Hi, Misto! Jaromir who?

Thanks for the link to the Witt article, Roger.

Good chances for the Caps, but no goal on this PP so far.

Hi Marc. And Jagr and he was so mad at what TAK said he just hight sticked Crosby and was in the sin bin

Say your sorry TAK

WASHINGTON Capitals

Ovechkin Zubrus Clark
Pettinger Halpern Willsie
Clymer Laich Bradley
Fata Steckel Fehr

Heward Muir
Majesky Morrisonn
Eminger Yonkman

Kolzig
(Johnson)

Since Heward is out:

Eminger Muir/Yonkman
Majesky Morrisonn

The Thrashers score, but it's under review (the net has moved).

NO GOAL! Good. We're still in the game.

The puck hit both posts but didn't go in.

Actually, it went through Kolzig, and off the post to his right.

No goal.

Caps trip at 2:24, so the Caps on the PK when they really need some O- not good for the outcome.

Hossa into an empty net in the last seconds. 5-3 Atlanta. Ite missa est.

I must confess that I was wrong about Halpern. He's not having a bad season. He has 2 assists tonight, and 32 this season. His career high was 27 (in 2003-04). He also has 4 shots tonight, and 145 this season: also a career high. He doesn't score as often as in the past, but at least he's trying! Good job. I'm proud of our entire team.

Just saw something on a replay that really impressed me- Hossa took off for that empty netter by taking the puck away from Ovechkin, who tried to catch him most of the way down the ice, and then took a baseball swing at the goalpost after the puck was officially in, cracking his stick- he was super-pissed at his poor D, with almost no time left on the clock.

Gotta love this kid for more than his offense; gotta love his heart. I hope he can get 8 points in the next 3 games (it's a lot, I know) to move into second all time rookie scoring.

I am still awake watching the Sharks game and damn Nabby to Thorton to Calle goal. Since I can't hope for an injury How about a bad case of gastroenteritis ]

KEEP JT IN THE BATHROOM till the season is over.

AND WAKE UP JAGR!!!!!!!

From this morning's Washington Post:

Capitals Notes: Capitals defenseman Jamie Heward suffered a fairly serious upper-body injury early in the first period and did not return. . . . Thrashers defenseman Jaroslav Modry suffered a strained hamstring muscle when he went skates first into the end boards late in the second period. He is listed as day-to-day.