Washington Capitals

For the first time in his past 12 games, Alex Ovechkin found the back of the net for the Washington Capitals. 

Amid one of the longest goal-scoring droughts of his career, the Capitals captain showed a glimpse of his insane skill with a highlight reel tally at 13:50 of the third period. 

Jeff Halpern, Nicklas Backstrom, Troy Brouwer and John Carlson also scored as the Caps defeated the Ottawa Senators for the second time in the past week 5-3 on Wednesday night. 

The Caps struck first on the road with Halpern's second period tally, but fell behind after goals from Eric Condra and Nick Foligno before the end of the period. The e...

(Photo Credit: cornholeo2552/Flickr)

It wasn't news to anyone that the NHL would be setting up a new realignment plan for the 2012-2013 season. Plenty of speculation went into this idea as to how it would effect the current Eastern and Western Conferences. The Winnipeg Jets, although presently in the East, seemed to be a team that would make much more sense in the West. Rumors began to run that the Detroit Red Wings would move to the Eastern Conference, or even quite possibly the Nashville Predators.

The bigger question, and one that still looms over the hearts of many fans out in the desert, is whether or not the Phoenix Coyotes will still be in any Conference next year. They are currently in what seems to be the final year of their lease agreement after almost being relocated this past summer. There's still a good possibility that they might be relocated in the near future as well, but all of that remains in limbo as the 2012 season moves forward.

However, the NHL and it's Board of Governors could not wait to see what happens in Phoenix and passed a very dramatic change to the current alignment. The Eastern and Western Conferences will ultimately be removed next year; the standard two conferences that consist of 15 teams will become four conferences with either seven or eight teams in each one.

Three games into the Dale Hunter era, the Capitals are 1-2-0. But it's easy to look too hard at the numbers and not the on-ice product so far in Hunter's tenure. 

The Caps have been forechecking more aggressively than they ever did under former coach Bruce Boudreau. They have worked on Hunter's system that involves limiting odd-man rushes and using the walls to create them the other way. The goaltending has stabilized, the defense is improving. 

These are all good things. All things to build on going forward rather than fretting over the record. Regardless, Hunter's system will take time for the Caps to adjust and adapt to. 

Look no further...

New coach, same story for the Washington Capitals in the month of November. 

Matt D'Agostini's wrap-around goal at the 8:54 mark of the second period put the visiting St. Louis Blues up 2-1, a lead that they wouldn't surrender. 

Nicklas Backstrom opened the scoring for the homestanding Caps with his 8th goal of the season at 10:15 of the first. His goal was met with a response about five minutes later from the Blues and T.J. Oshie. 

D'Agostini gave the Blues the lead in the second period with a great individual effort. He blasted a slapshot that handcuffed Tomas Vokoun, then collected the rebound and whee...