Caps Notes 4/3

-The Capitals broke their losing streak against the Atlanta Thrashers with a hard fought, physical, complete game.  they won 2-1 with a goal from the top line and a goal from a grinder plus a very solid performance from their goaltender.  It'll be nice to see more of that going forward.

-Speaking of the Atlanta game, 48-year-old Chris Chelios was victimized on Matt Bradley's game winning goal.

How old is Chris Chelios?  He was on the Montreal Canadiens during the 1983-84 season when the Capitals had their first 10-game winning streak, though he was still in the Olympics in Sarajevo passing to Eddie Olczyk, Al Iafrate, and Pat LaFontaine and playing against the Soviet KLM line when the Caps beat the Canadiens during that streak.  His game against the Capitals was his 1,649th career regular season game.  The Capitals defense had played 2,554 games combined.  Chelios made his NHL debut before the following Capitals were even born:  Alex Semin, Tomas Fleischmann, Mike Green, Alexander Ovechkin, Eric Fehr, Nicklas Backstrom, Semyon Varlamov, Jeff Schultz, Mathieu Perreault.

-#needsmorebradley - Matt Bradley scored the game winning goal against the Thrashers, his 4th on the season, a new career high which ties him for 4th on the team.  He now has matched all of his career highs with 9 Goals, 13 Assists, and 22 Points in his 73rd game.  He set all of those career bests as a rookie in 2001-02 in only 54 games.  The other career high he set that season was a +22, ad he is having his best season since then with a +6 this season.  Since his rookie season, Bradley is a -37.

-Speaking of career highs, Nicklas Backstrom scored his 30th Goal on the season vs the Thrashers.  He now has a career high 92 points which ties him with Alex Ovechkin for the 10th best season in Caps history.

-Mathieu Perreault was sent back down to the Hershey Bears one night after getting clotheslined by former Penguin Colby Armstrong.  The play did not draw a penalty, though Armstrong and Shaone Morrisonn received matching minors for the scuffle afterward, and Armstrong received a 2-game suspension for the hit.  Perreault  was a sparkplug for the Caps during his recall, scoring 2 goals in 3 games.  Let's hope he sticks up here next season.



-And on a final note, Alex Giroux, Keith Aucoin, and Andrew Gordon were named to the AHL All-Star Team.  I'm sure it's what they've always dreamed of.