Sabres 2, Caps 3

To say Alex Ovechkin is the best player in the league these days is not only a legitimate claim, its a bit of an understatement, if that were possible. The guy has been on an absolute tear (21 goals and 21 assists in 27 games... jesus). He has overtaken Sidney Crosby and is currently second in points in the league. He has a GWG and a GTG in the last two games. His line is out there for every important shift, and they have not failed to deliver. His center is on the league leaderboard for assists. His right wing has four (pretty) goals in four games.

This team is rolling. They've won 7 of their last 8 games. They are currently tied for second in the Eastern Conference with the New York Rangers (who they beat twice) and are only behind the Boston Bruins (who they beat in their only meeting). Thankfully, the Philly game is looking like a bit of a hiccup. And the most amazing part? They're doing it without their best defenseman, (arguably) their best goalie, the best natural goal scorer in the game, and their most experienced player.

Think about when those guys get back for good.

Some random thoughts on the game:

• Ovie can score in any way imaginable, and he showed it once again. He also was hitting everything that moved, made some sweet passes, and had a goal that got waved off that in my opinion would have still gone in even if Lalime hadn't been interfered with.
• Backstrom seems finding some good chemistry with Kozlov.
• Sloan got dangled pretty badly towards the end there. Can't let that happen.
• Good to see Helmer get a star of the game.
  
• Also good to see Juice shooting now. I may have been wrong about him... nah...
• Theo was outstanding. The defense (and especially Boyd Gordon) let him down badly on the first one. The second one wasn't even on net, it just hit Maxim in the leg and deflected in.
• Didn't notice Clark offensively but he was making his presence felt with physicality with a nice hit behind Lalime's net.
  
• Ovechkin almost took Vanek's leg off on a slapshot on the power play. If that happens to our boy when he's put on the penalty kill (though I've seen a lot less of him on it), then we might be in trouble.

Toronto looms on Sunday, and hopefully the return of someone like Green will help this already confident team. I'd look for Theodore to get the start, but maybe Gabby's got something up his sleeve with a young stud goalie who's 2-0 in the bigs on his bench. We'll have to see.