Caps rout Blackhawks

Here's a few quick notes and quotes from a 6-2 laugher at the Phone Booth:

* Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Knuble combined for five goals and 12 points. The power play went 3-for-6. Yep, the big guns are locked and loaded. Is it Oct. 1 yet?

"I thought [Ovechkin, Semin and Backstrom] were a lot better today," Bruce Boudreau said. "And when they're good, they're pretty fun to watch."

* Boudreau on Varlamov: "I have got to believe [Varlamov] a good chance of being here." Varlamov stopped 26 of 28 shots, and was sharp in the third period. Not sure how Michal Neuvirth will feel about hearing that before he gets his second game (and considering the help he had in front of him, he probably had the bst first game of the three).

* Boudreau was also very complimentary of Quintin Laing and Tyler Sloan. If we're handicapping which forwards might be on the roster in place of Tomas Fleischmann and Eric Fehr, Laing is probably in the lead for one of them.

Sloan, meanwhile, had a goal and four blocked shots. Finding a spot for him is going to be tough.