Caps thrash the Thrashers 8-1

The Washington Capitals began a three game road swing through their the Southeast Division with a 14 point lead.  First stop, second place Atlanta.  The Caps wasted little time in stamping down division superiority, routing the Thrashers on the road 8-1.  The Caps did it with power shooting, nifty passing, solid defens,e and excellent goal tending.

Mike Knuble scored the first tally for the Caps, a deflection off a bomb from Tom Poti.  It was Knuble's 9th goal of the season.  Poti's assist extended his point streak to 5 straight games, his longest since the 2002 season.  Alexander Semin put the Caps up 2-0 on a shorthanded goal, the second short handed goal for the Caps on the season and Semin's 18th goal overall.  Nicklas Backstrom rounded out the first period scoring, adding insult to injury, scoring on the power play with 19 seconds left in the period.  Despite Atlanta out shooting Washington 18-7 in the first period, the Caps took a 3-0 lead to the first intermission.

Knuble scored his 2nd of the game and 10th of the season in the second period.  Knuble deflected an Alex Ovechkin shot off his skate to lift the Caps to a 4-0 lead and chase Atlanta starter Johnan Hedberg from the game. Maxim Afinogenov would score later in the second period to give Atlanta their first and only goal.  Washington out shot Atlanta 17-15 and went into the second intermission leading 4-1.

Third period was all Caps.  Washington scored 4 unaswered goal in the third period to complete the rout of the Thrashers.  Semin started it out, whiffing on a rebound, but taking the puck back and blasting a strike right past Ondrej Pavelec for his 2nd of the game and 18th of the year.  Caps were up 5-1.  4 minutes later, Matt Bradley made a nice pass across the ice in front of the net and a lunging Dave Steckel put his stick out and deflected it past Pavelec for his 2nd goal of the season.  Later Tom Poti would ice off his fine night scoring his first goal of the year on the Caps power play.  Poti's goal finished off a 3 point night with a +2 rating.  Less than a minute later, newly acquired Caps Jason Chimera would score his first goal as a Washington Capital, his 9th of the season, and finsih off the 8-1 rout.

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http://dcprosportsreport.com/articles/washington-capitals/caps-thrash-the-thrashers-8-1.html