Moving on Up

The Caps beat the Flyers 4-1 on Saturday night after battling for a win against the division leader, Atlanta the night before. This makes their record 7-1-1 after going through a 6 game losing streak and puts them in 2nd place in the Southeast Division. I have to repeat that, the Caps are in 2nd place. No one in the sports media had any belief that the Caps would contend for the playoffs this year. It's still very early in the season, but I can't help but believe this young, gritty team will fight their way into the playoffs and I'll be there cheering them on. I salivate at the idea that players like Ovie and Semin will play even harder in the playoffs. Just imagine that for a second! As it stands today, Ovie is the NHL goal scoring leader since the beginning of last season with 73 goals.

Against the Flyers, it was the other half of the Russian scoring duo, Alexander Semin that netted two goals and an assist in the game. Ovie and Zubie got the other two goals for the Caps.

On the defensive side, John Erskine left the game after a puck hit him in the foot, but it's apparently not a serious injury. A lot of fans don't think Erskine is all that good, but I think he's been playing well for the Caps in his role as a pure defenseman and I do believe he's helped Eminger to be more comfortable on the blue line so I hope he's back in the lineup soon.

Tarik El-Bashir who covers the Caps for the Washington Post answered questions from fans in an online chat this week. Some highlights....management loves Boyd Gordon. I have to say I've been very impressed with his play this year, particularly, on special teams. The final chat comment is about Tarik's recent "talk" with Alexander Semin which is entertaining. Here's the transcript.

Tampa Bay comes to Verizon Center tonight. Let's go Caps!