Caps lose, enter Olympic break atop NHL standings

By Bud L. Ellis

Their historic win streak now history, the Washington Capitals nonetheless find themselves in a good place as the NHL pauses for the Olympic break.

The Caps closed out the pre-Olympic portion of their schedule by gaining a point in Saturday’s 4-3 shootout loss at St. Louis. But despite losing three straight games after winning a franchise-record 14 games in a row, Washington still closes out the pre-Olympic part of the season atop the NHL with 90 points.

Washington leads New Jersey by 13 points in the Eastern Conference standings, and holds a commanding 27-point advantage over Tampa Bay in the Southeast Division.

Saturday, the Caps fought back from three one-goal deficits against the Blues. Mike Knuble scored on the power play at the 10:40 mark of the first period, 1:27 after St. Louis had taken a 1-0 lead. With the Blues up 2-1 in the second, Alexander Semin scored at 13:26 to tie the game at 2-2.

St. Louis took a 3-2 lead two minutes later, but Washington needed just 1:20 to knot the score again, Knuble scoring his second power-play goal of the contest.

Washington now is off until a March 3 road game at Buffalo.

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Sunday, February 14, 2010 at 11:57 am by bud

Tags: Alexander Semin, Buffalo Sabres, Mike Knuble, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Washington Capitals