NHL's Fight of the Year.

Tonight Capitals fans and Rangers fans alike witnessed what I believe to be the fight of the year.

Five minutes into the third period of a 2-1 Capitals lead, Washington forward Alexander Semin got into an altercation with Rangers defenseman Marc Staal.

Hilarity ensued.

Washington went on to win their sixth straight game, and will try for their seventh on Tuesday when the Philadelphia Flyers visit the Verizon Center.

Philadelphia was the last team to beat the Capitals before their six game run in a 7-1 drubbing on December 20, 2008.

Hopefully Semin will be keeping his gloves on. although I can say with certainty that he would be an excellent drummer for any "up and coming" rock band.

Remembering Alexei Cherepanov

Here is a video posted by KoVy71 on YouTube of some of Cherepanov's career highlights, as well as an excerpt from New York Rangers General Manager Glen Sather's press conference today:

“We are extremely saddened by the tragic passing of Alexei,” said Sather. “On behalf of the New York Rangers organization, I would like to extend our deepest sympathies to his family. Alexei was an intelligent, energetic young man, with tremendous talent and an extremely bright future.”

New York Rangers Prospect Alexei Cherepanov dies at 19.

Confirmed by an article appearing on TSN.ca. Read the article HERE.

"He set the RSL record for goals by a rookie with 18, beating the previous mark held by Pavel Bure (17 goals), during the 2006-07 season. His total of 29 points in his rookie campaign was more than Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin and Ilya Kovalchuk during their first initial RSL seasons."

Cherepanov was selected by the Rangers with the 17th overall draft pick in 2007.