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Ovechkin records hat trick as Capitals roll over Thrashers

Nov 27, 2008 - 4:35 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- After a pedestrian start to the season, Alex Ovechkin has arrived.

Ovechkin recorded a hat trick and had an assist as the Washington Capitals snapped a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday.

Ovechkin has 10 goals and 11 assists in his season-best nine-game points streak. The reigning Hart Trophy winner began the season with eight points in 11 contests prior to his current stretch.

"It was a great start for us, especially the hat trick and then the winning," Ovechkin said. "We lost three in a row and we just had to come back to our building and win the game."

Eric Fehr and Viktor Kozlov also scored for the Capitals, who were without injured defenseman Mike Green and Alexander Semin yet again after going 1-3-1 on a five-game road trip.

"The fans give us the advantage, that's one thing," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said after his team improved to 8-0-1 at Verizon Center.

"Every team gets energized by the crowd, and we have as loud a crowd as it's going to be. And we're at home - I mean we have been on the road so much."

Bryan Little and Vyacheslav Kozlov each tallied before rookie defenseman Nathan Oystrick netted his first career NHL goal, but the Thrashers fell for the fourth time in five contests.

"For the most part, they outplayed us all game," Thrashers right wing Colby Armstrong said. "It was one of those nights in a back-to-back where we didn't come out and have the jump we'd like to."

The Capitals were without seven injured players from their opening night roster and relied heavily on defensemen Sami Lepisto, Tyler Sloan and Karl Alzner, who have played a combined 21 NHL games.

"They played well tonight and we did a great job, too," Ovechkin said. "We have a very big future with young guys. We have experience, and when we see guys like Alzner, (Chris) Bourque, (Graham) Mink and Lepisto come onto the team, they fill the role."

Alzner, the fifth overall pick in 2007, made his NHL debut.

"I've been playing with Sami the entire year. It's nice," Alzner said. "A lot of us have been working hard and waiting for an opportunity, and we all know that you don't always get too many, so we have to make sure we are at our best we can be.

"We don't want to make it easy for anyone to send us back down. It's nice to have guys to help settle me down. It's been crazy. We were at practice on Saturday and Lepi called and said he was going up. I made one wish that I would get called up as well."

Ovechkin's first goal came on a one-timer from Lepisto just inside the blue line, giving Washington an early 1-0 lead just 3:29 into the first period.

Jose Theodore finished with 15 saves for Washington, which used Fehr's goal to increase its lead to 2-0 four minutes later.

Little's power-play tally off assists by Ilya Kovalchuk and Todd White pulled the Thrashers within 2-1 with 7:52 left in the session, but Ovechkin struck again with the man advantage two minutes later.

Ovechkin secured his sixth career hat trick 54 seconds into the second and later set up Viktor Kozlov's tally in the third to give the Capitals a 5-2 lead.

"I don't know," said Thrashers coach John Anderson, when asked how a team can contain Ovechkin. "There are probably 29 other teams wondering the same thing. He's a good player and one the power play, you can't put one guy on him because then you're 4-on-3. You try to take away as much as possible. The goals that he scored, one was a long slapper, and the other one, it came right to him. There's nothing you can do about those goals.

"Other than that, he's a superstar. He's someone you've got to watch all the time. There's a reason he scores 50 or 60 (goals) because it's not just against our team, it's against everybody."