So Classic.

Oh man, what a game. You can say it was not as much of a spectacle as the previous Winter Classics because of the weather, but to me, that made it all the more special. Cate was at the Winter Classic, so I will let her handle how the atmosphere of the whole event was in greater detail, but just from watching on the television I could tell that it was probably awesome to be there, no matter how much water was being dropped from the sky. The thing that pleased me the most was the mass amounts of red that I saw in the stands. Pittsburgh fans are a proud bunch and usually you do not see many of the opposing fans in their seats, but tonight was a much different story. The many loyal fans who were "Rockin' the Red" were just as loud and supportive as the fans in black and gold (oh, and blue for some reason). Pittsburgh fans are known for following their fans around, but we showed that Caps fans can do just the same if not better.

In a night that was all about Sid the Kid vs. the Great 8, how awesome was it that a player who even casual Caps fans don't know ends up being the hero for the boys. Eric Fehr scored two goals in last night's game. It was only his second multi-goal game, the first coming in 2009. The first goal came off a Marc-Andre Fleury "assist" and the second on a breakaway shot that Fehr did not mess around with. Instead of trying to deke out the super quick Fleury, he simply wound up and put it top shelf to help seal the deal for the boys in Red, White, and Blue. Just as a final note, if you listened to the very first episode of our show, I picked Eric Fehr as the breakout player of the year. Loos like someone has a good eye for talent ;)

The biggest aspect of this game was the weather. Shout out to the weather man working for NBC who said the rain would only last "another five minutes" midway through the second period. Way to keep the reputation of the weatherman ALWAYS being wrong alive, sir. Anyhow, the rain did seem to play a major factor in the game. By the start of the third period, the puck had a wake trailing behind it, and players were constantly falling on the ice for no reason. The rain seemed to enhance the rough and tough game that the Caps and Pens always seem to play when the rivals clash. Ovi broke the glass by hitting a Pens defender into it in the first few minutes. Erskine and Rupp scrapped to (in my opinion) an even draw in the first period, and from there, the hits kept on coming. With .6 seconds left on the clock, the Pens kept preventing the faceoff from happening by starting mini-scraps. It seemed as if they could not accept the fact that they had lost a sixth straight to the mighty Capitals in Pittsburgh.

The weather conditions definitely affected the goalies the most, and on this night, the man with the blue number one on his sweater rose to the occasion. Varlamov saved 32 of 33 shots and spearheaded a group that killed off 4 power players for the Pens. The more important thing, however, is that he did not make the key mistake. The same could not be said for Marc-Andre Fleury, who consistently came out of the crease and misplayed the puck. One of those mistakes ultimately led to the loss, as Fleury lost the puck to Marcus Johansson, who then gave it up to Eric Fehr for the easy goal. From all of us Capitals fans, I would like to thank both goalies for their efforts (mishaps?) in the Capitals' win.

One negative that came from this game was not a fault of either team or the weather. It was the NBC camera crew. The camera angles that were being shown to the viewing public were horrendous. I don't know if they got confused on whether or not it was a hockey game or football game or what it was, but they could not figure out that all the fans wanted was the simple side view. Granted, most of the game was presented in this format (as it should be), but they spent much of the game with weird canted angles from far away that made it impossible to see what was going on on the ice. Dumb it down a bit, NBC.

Those retro jerseys were amazing. The white with the red helmet and pants were awesome. I hope the Caps take a note from their rivals and use those jerseys in more games this season and in following years

Final note. Just a shoutout to the crew I watched the victory with and followed that up by beating the beat up and Applebees. Drew and Amy Hallman, Mike, Ryan, and Matty Brown, John Welsh, and Adam "Lucky Retro Jersey" Artuso. With this huge win, the Caps have officially gained their swagger back.

Fury: Unleashed

After the come-from-behind victory against Ottawa to end the miserable 8-game losing streak, I thought that it was almost more important to win the NEXT game after the losing streak had come to an end to start something that the Caps and their fans would be much happier about... a winning streak.

And it looks as though the boys from DC thought so too.

The Capitals dismantled the New Jersey Devils tonight, 5-1. The Caps scored 5 or more goals for the ninth time this year, and the offense looked like it was back to the powerful machine that the Capitals faithful are used to: free-flowing, creative, precise, and nearly unstoppable. Goals were scored by Andrew Gordon (his first NHL goal), Jay Beagle, Jason Chimera, John Carlson, and Mike Knuble. Gordon scored his inaugural goal on a beautiful assist from Marcus Johansson. Beagle's goal came down in the dirty area on a tap in. Chimera scored on a breakaway even while he was being hooked by the NJ defender. Carlson fired an absolute missile past Marty Brodeur after Ovechkin left the puck all alone for number 74, and Knuble tipped-in a rebound late in the game.

My Player of the Game is (much to Catie's delight) John Carlson. He recorded a goal and an assist while maintaining a +4 rating. Plus, his bomb of a goal in the 2nd period had me jumping out my chair and rewinding the DVR multiple times.

The most impressive part of this win to me has been the play of the so-called "no name players". No average non-Caps fan would be able to recognize all the names of the goal scorers, but they all have skills that make the Caps one of the deepest teams in the league. Gordon is known as a natural goal scorer in the AHL (where he has spent most of his career) and Chimera is one of the fastest skaters in the NHL, which allowed him to break away from the defense and put the puck top shelf on the New Jersey net.

But it was not only these men who were making plays for the Caps. Marcus Johansson had a brilliant game. His magnificent, cross-ice assist set up Gordon's goal and he dominated control of the puck, which allowed for him to set up other teammates for some easy chances, especially in the 2nd period. Matthieu Perreault played his usual high-energy role, getting into the dirty areas and helping to set up his line mates, Brooks Laich and Mike Knuble. The defense as a whole, including Neuvirth, also stepped up and did not allow an early goal, which it had been susceptible to do not only during the losing streak, but all season.

The play of the guys on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th lines took pressure off the Capitals' superstars, who as a whole did not have the spectacular game that is expected out of them on a daily basis. Towards the end of the game, they started to gain some of their swagger, but none of the big name players (Ovechkin, Backstrom, Semin, Green) scored, something that should still concern Caps fans going into the two match-ups with the rival Penguins within the next two weeks. Alex Semin in particular played absolutely horrible. I realize that he has been out for 3 games, but he just looked lost and did not look like he was putting in a lot of effort throughout the entire game. The other Alex, Alexander Ovechkin has only scored 2 goals in his last 18 games. If he does not get back on track, the Capitals will have a tougher time keeping the wins coming. Another small area of concern has to be the power play. The Capitals had all of their opportunities killed off in this game, something that can absolutely not happen in the next couple of games. If the boys do not capitalize on the man-up opportunities against the better teams in the league, they will have a much harder time winning.

The play of the Capitals tonight gave fans, especially this one, much more hope for the near future. After watching this dominating performance on both ends of the ice, I know that the Caps are indeed back to their winning ways and that the teams that are on the schedule in the near future (I'm looking at you Montreal and Pittsburgh) are going to have to fear the most potent attack in the NHL. Were back, baby.