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This thumbs up from Kirilenko is more lucky than a swimming pool full of horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. (Photo credit: @mkirilenko)

A thumbs up from Kirilenko is more lucky than a swimming pool full of horseshoes and four-leaf clovers. (Photo credit: @mkirilenko)

Photo credit: Patrick McDermott

That washed-up Russian, Alex Ovechkin, has scored 17 goals in his last 15 games. During that span, the Washington Capitals are an astounding 12-2-1, which has taken them from the cellar of the Eastern Conference to the top of the Southeast Division. I guess we really did forget to flush. The goals have made Ovechkin a MVP candidate again for the first time in years and literally the happiest guy on the planet.

Saturday night against the Lightning, Ovechkin punctuated a huge first period for the Caps with a beautiful semi-breakaway goal. As the Lightning prepared for Ovi to shoot from the circles, the Great Eight surprised everybody on the ice and went to his backhand, beating Ben Bishop to the right post. It would be Washington’s third goal of the period and the team’s 20th shot.

Let’s just forget about the two periods after that.

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This photo is smoldering with sex appeal. (Photo via welshhockeyfan)

A few weeks ago, Mike Ribeiro got in his first NHL fight– against Brad Marchand. It was a site to behold: the teams’ two tiniest players wildly throwing haymakers at — or maybe just near– each other. The bout was more cute than vicious, and on Thursday night we got another adorable dust-up a lot like it.

With a a minute left in the third period and the Caps clutching to a 2-1 lead, John Erskine shoved the living shit out of Eric Staal, just to let him know that he didn’t appreciate the Canes’ captain swinging his stick at him like he was Chris Davis or something. Staal pushed back, and then all 10 players on the ice converged in an sweaty swarm of hockey hate.

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Photo credit: Evan Vucci

Troy Brouwer’s return to the score sheet for the first time since March 30th came in three parts. First was the power play goal, a zippy shot from the slot set up by Mike Ribeiro. Then came the empty-netter, in spite of Alex Semin’s cross-check, sealing the deal with only seconds to spare. And finally came the trash talk: Troy Brouwer letting ex-teammate and international man of mystery Alex Semin know what he thought of — well something, I guess. Lipreading is not our bag. If lipreading is your bag, give it a try in the comments below.

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Photo credit: Paul Chiasson

Admit it: over the last few years you’ve given Alex Ovechkin some grief. From his not-so friendly communication with his coaches to skipping the All-Star game, The Great Eight has generated more heel heat than B.P. Richfield from The Dinosaurs. The dwindling goal totals haven’t helped either.

On Tuesday night, Ovi completed his epic return to glory, scoring his league-leading (for about an hour) 26th goal with his fanciest move of the season. After throwing the puck through Michael Ryder’s legs, Ovi wristed a shot just beyond the circles and past Carey Price. It’s the first time Ovi’s led the NHL goals since… um… how about the early 80′s?

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ovi-hits-semin

Way back in November, Igor and I spoke to Dmitry Orlov’s best friend Alex Burmistrov in Hershey. When we asked Burmistrov about his friendship with his fellow Russian, the Jets forward said, “I don’t think either one of us ever hit another when we played against each other.”

Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin do not have such an agreement.

With fifteen minutes left in the second period of Sasha Bowl IV, Ovechkin and Semin raced for a puck along the boards. Semin did not make it there.

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Photo credit: Paul Bereswill

Claude Giroux is one of the best and toughest players in the NHL. Last season, he had 93 points for the Flyers and then played beer pong two weeks after getting dual wrist surgery. It’s hard not to like him.

Capitals rookie defenseman Steve Oleksy is pretty tough customer too. Midway through the third period of Sunday’s game, as Giroux tried to glove the puck, Oleksy delivered a big, clean, open-ice hit on the Flyers captain.

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If you look closely, you can see the puck going by Pominville’s shin pads. (Photo credit: Bill Wippert)

On Wednesday night, Mike Green had one of the most calamitous screw-ups of his career against the New York Islanders. After misplaying a terrible pass from Brooks Laich, Matt Moulson stole the puck and tossed it to John Tavares for the game-winning goal.

Green’s a world-class player though, which is exactly why he bounced back in a very big way Saturday night against the Sabres.

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perreault

Perreault goes crazy, Chimera does not.

The Washington Capitals pulled a huge shootout victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Alex Ovechkin was superb, Braden Holtby was solid, and Mathieu Perreault was pleased. Very pleased. After Ovi clinched the 4-3 win in the skills competition, CSN’s cameras panned to Washington’s bench. The Caps were happy. Perry stood out, pumping his fists manically while letting out a primal scream.

Hockey is great.

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Photo credit: Alex Brandon

Mike Green is a lot of things: a two-time Norris nominee, a generous human, and the beefy crush-object of thousands of women in the tri-state area. On Tuesday, however, he was a goat (and I don’t mean the Greatest of All-Time).

With five minutes to go in regulation and the game tied 2-2, Brooks Laich‘s cross-ice dump-in was swatted down by John Tavares. Tavares sent the puck into the Caps’ zone, which is where all the crazy happened. Laich sent a weak pass behind the net to Mike Green. The puck bounced off both boards and the back of the net, finally coming to rest dangerously near the crease. With Matt Moulson pressuring, Green tried to put the puck through his legs. Instead, the puck hit his skates and stopped. Moulson picked it up and fed Tavares for an easy game-winner.

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When the Washington Capitals used their 1st round draft pick to select Russian forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, his puck skills and potential as a future NHL star were already recognized by the hockey world. His off-ice talents were not nearly as well known. Since he became a Capitals prospect, RMNB has been bringing our readers attention to Zhenya’s dabbling in areas as diverse as real estate and pop singing. And now we present to you Evgeny Kuznetsov, the sitcom star.

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