Ovechkin returns, Caps keep rolling

Alex Ovechkin returned to the Washington Capitals tonight -- and the team's scoring pace proceeded to drop off by four goals from the one it was clicking at without him. Jokes aside, the Caps were a little sluggish in the first period but Alexander Semin and Ovechkin (with a little help from an ill-advised, backhanded, cross-ice, neutral zone pass by Tampa's Stephane Veilleux) got them going and Semyon Varlamov did his part in a 3-0 win. Here's a few notes from Washington's sixth straight victory: -- At 19-5-6, the Caps are off to their best 30-game start in team history (sort of, let's not go down the whole ties vs. shootouts road right now -- it is late and the team is practicing at 9:15 a.m. tomorow). -- With 44 points, the Caps are now on top of not only the Eastern Conference but the entire NHL as well after passing idle San Jose (Sharks still have one game in hand as well). "We're heading in the right direction," captain Chris Clark said. "We're nowhere near where we should be, peaking-wise. We want to do that in March and April heading into the playoffs, but I think we have a little ways to go to be a little better and more consistent." -- That's now 12 straight victories against the Lightning, which is a franchise record for most against a single foe. -- Caps are also now 7-0 against the Southeast Division (12-11 against the rest of the league). People from other divisions will quickly point to that, but the Thrashers look like they might be pretty good and the Lightning are in the mix for a playoff spot at this point. -- Alex Ovechkin is now second in the league with 20 goals (tied with a guy from, well, OK everyone knows who he is tied with so let's just move on) and one short of New York's Marian Gaborik for the league lead. Something tells me Ovechkin's going to need to miss more than eight games to not collect his third straight Richard trophy. -- Semyon Varlamov has allowed 20 goals in his last 11 starts. That's pretty good. He's also 12-1-2, and at some point his numbers are going to be too good for people to ignore and he will pass John Tavares as the leading contender for the Calder trophy. Tavares is having a nice rookie season, but it's not Ovechkin- or Crosby-esque. Granted Varalmov is going to have a large hurdle called "TavaresIsACanadianIconAlready-ism to overcome -- but one Russian Caps player was able to do that this decade for that award, so why not two? -- Eric Fehr has points in seven straight games and five goals in his last six. -- Tomas Fleischmann did not score a goal (still only scores when Ovechkin isn't playing, apparently) but he did have two primary assists. -- Having Fleischmann and Fehr going like this makes the Caps offense just scary, scary good. -- Seen Stamkos? Seriously, have you? The kid is having a great year, but no shots in almost 17 minutes. A complete non-factor. The other Lightning stars up front weren't that much better. Vinny Lecavalier and Marty St. Louis had a few moments, but Vinny took two penalties and none of those three guys got more than 5 shifts in the third.