Ovechkin chips in as Capitals break losing streak.

Nothing remedies a losing streak better than a six goal outing. Tonight the Capitals were able to break out of their recent funk, notching a 6-3 victory over rival Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Capitals continued the trend of falling behind early as an Evgeni Malkin power play marker had the Pens take a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

It didn't take long for the Capitals to cut the deficit, as Viktor Kozlov scored his 10th of the season 1:06 into the second frame. Miroslav Satan and Alexander Semin traded goals through the midway point of the period, as both clubs hit the locker room knotted in a 2-2 tie.

However it was in the third period that Alexander Ovechkin took over.

Ovechkin marked his 27th goal of the season midway through a Capitals power play early in the third. Soon after Pittsburgh had tied the game again, he provided the primary assist on a Tomas Fleischmann goal that turned out to be the game winner. And for an encore, he scored once more off the skate of Pittsbugh defenseman Brooks Orpik to give Washington a comfortable 5-3 lead.

Jeff Schultz would later mark a short-handed empty net goal, his first on the campaign.

For the most part, Washington's defense was able to keep the duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin silent, as they managed only 3 points combined in a losing effort.

Crosby left the game twice with an apparent leg injury.

Jose Theodore was sharp, stopping 26 shots in the victory, including some clutch saves on a Pittsbugh man advantage in the third.

Nicklas Backstrom tallied three assists while the afformentioned Tomas Fleischmann finished with a goal and an assist. Brooks Laich also had a productive game, registering 5 shots and 2 assists.

The Caps next action is set to take place Saturday as they will clash with the Eastern Conference leading Boston Bruins at the Verizon Center.

Pre-Game Thoughts: 10/10/08 Capitals at Thrashers

As the clock pushes it's way past 12 A.M., the dawn of the 2008-09 Washington Capitals season will be upon us. This off-season has been relatively busy for the Caps, all while trying to mold a Stanley Cup contender. Out are goalies Christobal Huet and legendary Olaf Kolzig, heading to Chicago and Tampa Bay respectively.

Washington's big acquisition this year is Jose Theodore, who is expected to carry a heavy load this year if the Capitals are to succeed.

The fowards and defense remains much the same, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Shaone Morrisonn, Boyd Gordon, Eric Fehr, Sergei Fedorov have all signed contract extensions, and it appears this team is heading in the right direction.

The opposite is the case for Atlanta. After trading away superstar Marian Hossa at last years trade deadline, and failed to replace his scoring touch during the free agent period. They do not possess a particularly deep roster, and will look to rookie defenseman Zach Bogosian to play important minutes with the rest of this pitiable defensive corps.

That being said, Washington will still have to find a way to limit the playing time of John Erskine and Milan Jurcina in order to succeed. Both had disappointing pre-seasons and were vastly outplayed by rookie Karl Alzner, but the team felt it was best for Alzner to play more minutes in the AHL.

The clock will be ticking on the JURSKINE combination and it might not be long before either; or both, are replaced. But if the past 7 games are any indication, we should be in for a high scoring season from these upstart Caps.

It begins now.