D2


EZ SU


KLMNO HOCKEY


EASTERNCONFERENCE SOUTHEAST W L OL PTS. GF GA Washington 22 12 5 49 117 105 Tampa Bay Atlanta Carolina Florida


21 11 5 47 115 120 19 14


ATLANTIC W L OL PTS. GF GA Pittsburgh


THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2010


NHLSTANDINGSANDSUMMARIES


ISLANDERS2, PENGUINS1 (SO)


Sidney Crosby’s 25-game points


17 15 4 38 102 108 16 17


6 44 123 117 1 33 93 89


25 11 3 53 126 91


Philadelphia 22 9 5 49 119 93 N.Y. Rangers 22 14 2 46 118 98 N.Y. Islanders 10 19 New Jersey


6 26 80 115 9 25 2 20 62 115


NORTHEAST W L OL PTS. GF GA Boston


Montreal Ottawa Buffalo Toronto


20 11 4 44 100 74 20 15 2 42 93 86 16 18 4 36 86 112 15 18 4 34 98 108 13 18 4 30 82 107


WESTERNCONFERENCE CENTRAL Detroit


St. Louis Chicago Nashville Columbus


W L OL PTS. GF GA 24 9 4 52 128 103 19 12 5 43 95 97 20 15 3 43 120 108 17 13


6 40 87 91 18 15 3 39 93 105


NORTHWEST W L OL PTS. GF GA Vancouver Colorado


Minnesota Calgary


Edmonton PACIFIC


Dallas 6 30 91 120


22 8 5 49 121 90 19 12 5 43 125 117 17 14 5 39 91 103 16 18 3 35 100 107 12 17


xLos Angeles 22 12 San Jose Anaheim xPhoenix


W L OL PTS. GF GA 22 12 4 48 109 105 1 45 106 78


19 13 5 43 109 105 19 17 4 42 102 116 16 12


7 39 92 100


x - Late game; One point awarded for overtime losses.


PHOTOS BY RICKY CARIOTI/THE WASHINGTON POST The Capitals held an hour-long workout. Even “a two mile per hour wind is a little bit different,”Washington Coach Bruce Boudreau said. Caps obtain early taste of outdoors


At Chevy Chase Club, natural elements come into play


BY GREG SCHIMMEL Alex Ovechkin practiced with


a thick ring of eye black circling his mouth, and another thick streak beneath his eyes and across the bridge of his nose. “Just to have fun, like laugh,”


the Washington Capitals left wing said afterward. “Try to make a joke.” The outrageous look personi-


fied the enthusiastic approach the Capitals took to the rink at the Chevy Chase Club on Wednesday afternoon, when they held their first outdoor practice session in preparation for Saturday’s Winter Classic against the rival Pittsburgh Pen- guins at Heinz Field. The roughly hour-long prac-


tice in front of a few hundred fans helped the Capitals get oriented to outdoor conditions and heightened their anticipa- tion for the NHL’s marquee midseason game. After Tuesday night’s 3-0 win


overMontreal atVerizon Center, no more games stand between the Capitals and the Winter Classic, allowing them to focus completely on their foray into the outdoors. “We’ve been looking forward


to this all year, since they an- nounced it,” defenseman Mike Green said. “It couldn’t come quick enough, and now here we are, playing the game on Satur- day. I know everybody is excit- ed.” The Capitals ran a strenuous


practice andwent through regu- lar drills Wednesday, but there was a sense of exuberance for the players and coaches to be skating outside on the 46-de- gree afternoon. Players yelped and hollered


when they first entered the ice, and many hit slap shots off the end boards to startle members of the crowd. CoachBruceBoudreauwore a white wool hat with red and


washingtonpost.com/capitals


“When I see my scar . . . you know I was a hockey player.” —Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma


6 7


Alex Ovechkin and his teammates used eye black to cut down on the glare, and in his case, as an excuse “to have fun, like laugh.” However, it’s not expected to be sunny on Saturday in Pittsburgh.


blue stripes—“Nothing I put on is going to make me look any better,” he said when asked about his gameday attire — while several players in addition to Ovechkin experimented with the eye black. Most players had the tradi-


tional swatch under each eye to fight the glare of the sun, but others, including forward Matt Hendricks and defenseman John Carlson, drew thick trian- gles under both eyes. “Today is the day to experi-


ment with that stuff,” Boudreau said. “We had a couple of ulti- mate warriors out there.” Weekend forecasts in Pitts-


burgh call for possible showers that could potentially threaten the scheduled timing of the game, but the glaring sun dur- ing Wednesday’s practice ses- sion created a challenge. Players were constantly squinting as the reflection of the sun off of the ice became difficult to handle. “The main thing was dealing


with the glare,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “We all tried this eye black. It doesn’t really work thatwell to fend against it, so we’re going to have to try something different.” The wind also impacted the outdoor session, as even a slight


breeze going with or against a player could affect skating speed. Forecasts say it is not sup-


posed to be particularly windy in Pittsburgh on Saturday, but small gusts can still make a difference, and Boudreau ran his players through sprints at the end of the practice to let themexperience that effect. “I wanted to skate them a


little bit to see if the wind affects” them, Boudreau said. “It’s amazing, going one way against even a twomile per hour wind is a little bit different.” Boudreau said he personally


needed to adjust to the unusual atmosphere presented by an outdoor rink, where the noise and vibe are different from in- side an arena. It was difficult to perceive


how hard the players were working in the open surround- ings, he said, and itwas strange- ly quiet without the usual echoes. The Capitals will return in-


doors to practice atKettler Capi- tals Iceplex on Thursday before they leave for Pittsburgh, and they will practice outdoors again atHeinz Field on Friday in anticipation of Saturday’s game. Overall, the Capitals said,


Use our random quote generator to check out


more from HBO’s “24/7” series documenting the road to the Winter Classic on New Year’s Day. wapo.st/capspenshbo


View video and photos from Wednesday’s


outdoor Capitals practice. washingtonpost.com/capitals


CAPITALS’NEXTTHREE


at Penguins (Heinz Field) Saturday, 1 WRC-4,WBAL-11


vs. Lightning Tuesday, 7 Comcast SportsNet


vs. Panthers Jan. 8, 7 Comcast SportsNet


Radio: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)


their first outdoor experience was a positive one. “It’s a lot of fun,” Alzner said.


“That’s what we were talking about the whole time. We wish the whole season was played outdoors.” Capitals notes: Marcus Jo-


hansson (undisclosed injury) skated with his teammates for the first time this week. The rookie center, along with Ma- thieu Perreault (broken nose), will be ready to play Saturday, Boudreau said. “We wouldn’t have sent [Andrew] Gordon and [Keith] Aucoin down if we didn’t think theywere ready,” he added. . . . Boudreau also said defense-


man TomPoti (head injury) will be ready to go. schimmelg@washpost.com


DIGEST TELEVISIONANDRADIO


NBA 7 p.m.


NewYork at Orlando » TNT 9:30 p.m. San Antonio at Dallas » TNT


MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 2 p.m.


7 p.m. 8 p.m.


South Carolina Upstate at Virginia Tech » WJFK (106.7 FM) Temple at Villanova » ESPN2


Iowa State at Virginia » Comcast SportsNet, WSPZ (570 AM)


WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 9 p.m.


COLLEGE FOOTBALL Noon


6:45 p.m. 10 p.m.


COLLEGEFOOTBALL


Penn St. AD expects Paterno to return Penn State Athletic Director


Tim Curley plans to meet with Joe Paterno next month and expects the 84-year-old coach to return for the 2011 season. Curley, at an Outback Bowl


Connecticut at Stanford » ESPN2


Armed Forces Bowl, Army vs. Southern Methodist » ESPN, WWXT (92.7 FM),WWXX (94.3 FM),WTEM (980 AM)


3:15 p.m. Pinstripe Bowl, Kansas State vs. Syracuse » ESPN, WWXT (92.7 FM), WWXX (94.3 FM),WTEM (980 AM)


Music City Bowl, North Carolina vs. Tennessee » ESPN


Holiday Bowl, Nebraska vs.Washington » ESPN, WWXT (92.7 FM),WWXX (94.3 FM),WTEM (980 AM)


luncheon Wednesday, said no date has been set yet for the meeting. Paterno, on Tuesday, in- sisted he has no plans to stop coaching after this week’s game against Florida. Curley says after the bowl


game, they’re looking forward “to a great season next year.” Paterno’s contract runs


through next season, and he has called rumors he may quit after Saturday’s game against the Ga- tors “ridiculous.”


only from Comcast.


MIXEDMARTIALARTS Former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell, one of


the pioneers of modern mixed martial arts, has retired from professional fighting. The “Iceman” said he will be-


come an executive vice president for business development with the Ultimate FightingChampion- ship, the promotion that rocketed him to stardom in the United States more than a decade ago.


BASEBALL The snow-damaged roof of the


Metrodome inMinneapoliswon’t be fixed until sometime inMarch, affecting hundreds of college baseball games and the annual Twins Fest. Bill Lester of theMetropolitan


SportsFacilitiesCommissionsaid the Twins will be forced to move their event, which is scheduled for Jan. 28-30. Lester says about 300 baseball


games were scheduled to be played in the dome in February and March, including about 40 University of Minnesota games and 250 small college games. He


says during the early spring, it’s not unusual for theMetrodometo host baseball games from 8 a.m. to midnight.


SOCCER Arsenal tied 2-2 at Wigan de-


spite finishing with a man-advan- tage and missed the chance to draweven withManchesterUnit- ed and Manchester City atop the Premier League, while Chelsea ended a run of six leaguematches without a win with a 1-0 victory over Bolton.


HOCKEY Chicago Blackhawks forward


Jonathan Toews will be out two weeks with a shoulder injury. Toews was injured Tuesday


night in a loss at St. Louis.He was checked hard into the boards by Matt D’Agostini in the first period and stood up holding his right shoulder. Toews is Chicago’s sec- ond-leading scorer with 33 points, including 15 goals. The Dallas Stars signed defen-


seman Trevor Daley to a six-year contract extension worth $19.8 million.


SKIING MichaelWalchhofer of Austria


added another victory to his fare- well season, becoming the first skier to win the grueling World Cup downhill on the Stelvio course in Bormio, Italy, three times. Bode Miller, who is still seek-


ing his first win of the season, finished eighth on a course where he’s had two downhill victories. Miller was on pace for a podium spot but went slightly off line in the lower section, when racers’ legs are burning from the con- stant turns and bumps. . . . In Semmering, Austria, Marl-


ies Schild of Austria won a wom- en’s World Cup night slalom for her third victory of the season and 26th overall, while Maria Riesch extended her lead in the overall standings on Lindsey Vonn.


WEDNESDAY’SRESULTS


at N.Y. Islanders 2, Pittsburgh 1 (SO) N.Y. Rangers 3, at New Jersey 1 Carolina 4, at Otawa 0 at Minnesota 5, San Jose 3 Detroit 7, at Dallas 3 Los Angeles at Phoenix, Late


TUESDAY’SRESULTS


at Washington 3, Montreal 0 Carolina 4, at Toronto 3 at Pittsburgh 6, Atlanta 3 Boston 4, at Tampa Bay 3 at St. Louis 3, Chicago 1 Dallas 4, at Nashville 2 Buffalo 4, at Edmonton 2 Anaheim 3, at Phoenix 1


HURRICANES4, SENATORS0


Cam Ward made 37 saves for his


second shutout of the season and Zach Boychuk scored two goals in the first period of Carolina’s victory. Erik Cole and Patrick Dwyer also


scored for the Hurricanes, who have won two in a row and six of nine. Brian Elliott stopped 27 shots for


Ottawa, which had a modest two- game wining streak snapped. The team had won consecutive games for the first time since early November. The Senators were missing C Jason


Spezza, out indefinitely after injuring his right shoulder Sunday when he was checked from behind into the boards by Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang.


CAROLINA ............................... 2 OTTAWA .................................. 0


FIRST PERIOD


Scoring: 1, Carolina, Boychuk 1 (Dwyer, Corvo), 9:24. 2, Carolina, Boychuk 2 (T.Ruutu), 13:12 (pp).


SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 3, Carolina, Cole 8, 15:14.


THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 4, Carolina, Dwyer 7, 4:32.


SHOTS ON GOAL CAROLINA ............................. 10


OTTAWA .................................. 8


12 11


9 — 31 18 — 37


Power-play opportunities: Carolina 1 of 3; Ottawa 0 of 3. Goalies: Carolina, Ward 16-11-3 (37 shots-37 saves). Ottawa, Elliott 12-11-3 (31-27). A: 20,221 (19,153). T: 2:13.


RANGERS3,DEVILS1 Henrik Lundqvist had 43 saves as


New York handed New Jersey its sixth straight loss and kept the Devils win- less underCoach Jacques Lemaire. DMichal Rozsival scored the winner


on a second-period shot that deflected offDevilsDAndyGreene. Brian Boyle and Brandon Dubinsky


also scored for the Rangers, who gave up a season-high 44 shots just two nights after recording a season-high 52shotsinabigwinover theIslanders. Travis Zajac scored for theDevils.


N.Y.RANGERS ........................... 1 NEWJERSEY ............................. 1


FIRST PERIOD


Scoring: 1, New Jersey, Zajac 5 (Tedenby, Kovalchuk), 6:31. 2,N.Y.Rangers,Boyle 14 (Fedotenko, Prust), 7:18.


SECONDPERIOD Scoring: 3, N.Y. Rangers, Rozsival 3 (Dubinsky, Stepan), 13:22.


THIRDPERIOD


Scoring: 4, N.Y. Rangers, Dubinsky 16 (Anisimov), 19:54 (en).


SHOTSONGOAL N.Y.RANGERS ........................... 5


NEWJERSEY .......................... 16


12 20


9 — 26 8 — 44


Power-play opportunities: N.Y. Rangers 0 of 4; New Jersey 0 of 4. Goalies: N.Y. Rangers, Lundqvist 16-12-2 (44shots-43saves).NewJersey,Brodeur5-18-1(25-23). A: 17,625 (17,625). T: 2:27.


1 0


1 — 3 0 — 1


1 0


1 — 4 0 — 0


streak was snapped by New York and GRick DiPietro in the Islanders’ shoot- out victory at home. Crosby had scored at least a point in


everygamesince Nov.3atDallas. The run, in which Crosby had 26 goals and 24 assists,was the longest in the NHL since Quebec’s Mats Sundin had a 30-game streak during the 1992-93 season. Crosby has 62 points in 33 career games against the Islanders.


PITTSBURGH ..................... 0 N.Y. ISLANDERS ................ 0


SECOND PERIOD


Scoring: 1, N.Y. Islanders, Bailey 6 (Hamonic), :34. 2, Pittsburgh, Conner 4 (Kennedy), 16:33.


SHOOTOUT Pittsburgh 2 (Letang G, Crosby NG, Malkin G, Letestu NG), N.Y. Islanders 3 (Schremp G, Nielsen G, TavaresNG, Parenteau G).


SHOTS ON GOAL PITTSBURGH ................... 12


N.Y. ISLANDERS .............. 10


12 7


9 8


5 — 38 1 — 26


Power-play opportunities: Pittsburgh 0 of 2; N.Y. Island- ers 0 of 3. Goalies: Pittsburgh, Fleury 17-8-2 (26 shots-25 saves). N.Y. Islanders, DiPietro 5-6-4 (38-37). A: 14,345 (16,234). T: 2:45.


WILD5,SHARKS3 Kyle Brodziak scored twice and


Brent Burns had the winner in Minne- sota’s comeback victory over San Jose. The Wild trailed 3-2 and ap- peared to be headed toward another home loss after failing to score on a four-minute power play to start the third period.


SAN JOSE ................................ 1 MINNESOTA ............................ 1


FIRST PERIOD


Scoring: 1, Minnesota, Brodziak 7 (Havlat, Bouchard), 7:08 (pp). 2, San Jose, Thornton 9 (Clowe, Boyle), 11:49 (pp).


SECOND PERIOD


Scoring: 3, San Jose, Setoguchi 6 (Clowe, Couture), 2:57. 4, Minnesota, Koivu 9 (Brunette, Miettinen), 12:27. 5, San Jose, Marleau 14 (Thornton, Heatley), 15:01 (pp).


THIRD PERIOD


Scoring: 6, Minnesota, Kobasew 5 (Schultz, Madden), 5:14. 7, Minnesota, Burns 11, 9:15. 8, Minnesota, Brodziak 8 (Havlat, Burns), 10:35.


SHOTS ON GOAL SAN JOSE ................................ 9


MINNESOTA ............................ 5


10 11


13 — 32 8 — 24


Power-play opportunities: San Jose 2 of 4; Minnesota 1 of 5. Goalies: San Jose, Niittymaki 12-4-3 (24 shots-19 saves). Minnesota, Backstrom 13-9-3 (32-29). A: 19,131 (18,064). T: 2:23.


STARS4,PREDATORS2 LATETUESDAY


DALLAS .................................... 0 NASHVILLE .............................. 0


SECOND PERIOD


Scoring: 1, Dallas, Ott 8 (Eriksson, Richards), 4:39. 2, Nashville, C.Wilson 8 (Dumont, Kostitsyn), 19:00 (pp).


THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 3, Nashville, C.Wilson 9 (Ward, Smithson), :32. 4, Dallas, Eriksson 16 (Benn, Skrastins), 1:44. 5, Dallas, Fistric 1, 8:18. 6, Dallas, Barch 1 (Sutherby, Niskanen), 10:05.


SHOTS ON GOAL DALLAS .................................... 8


NASHVILLE ............................ 16 7 18


10 — 25 12 — 46


Power-play opportunities: Dallas 0 of 4; Nashville 1 of 6. Goalies: Dallas, Raycroft 7-3-0 (46 shots-44 saves). Nashville, Rinne 8-10-4 (25-21). A: 17,113 (17,113). T: 2:26.


BLUES3,BLACKHAWKS1 LATETUESDAY


CHICAGO .................................. 1 ST. LOUIS ................................. 0


SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 2, St. Louis, Sobotka 5, 4:39.


THIRD PERIOD


Scoring: 3, St. Louis, Boyes 8 (E.Johnson, D’Agostini), 3:08. 4, St. Louis, Winchester 5 (Jackman, D’Agostini), 14:10.


SHOTS ON GOAL CHICAGO .................................. 7


ST. LOUIS ............................... 18 8 13


11 — 26 12 — 43


Power-play opportunities: Chicago 0 of 2; St. Louis 0 of 4. Goalies: Chicago, Turco 9-9-2 (43 shots-40 saves). St. Louis, Conklin 5-2-1 (26-25). A: 19,150 (19,150). T: 2:26.


HURRICANES4, MAPLELEAFS3 LATETUESDAY


CAROLINA ................................. 3 TORONTO .................................. 2


FIRST PERIOD


Scoring: 1, Carolina, Skinner 9 (Jokinen, Ruutu), 7:34. 2, Toronto, Kessel 13 (Kaberle, Phaneuf), 11:48 (pp). 3, Carolina, E.Staal 17, 14:08. 4, Toronto, Kessel 14 (Crabb, Bozak),15:30.5,Carolina,E.Staal18(Samsonov,Dwyer), 19:50 (pp).


SECONDPERIOD


Scoring: 6, Toronto, Grabovski 13 (Versteeg, Kaberle), 8:17 (pp).


THIRDPERIOD Scoring: 7, Carolina,Dwyer 6 (Gleason,Boychuk), 14:49.


SHOTSONGOAL CAROLINA ................................. 8


TORONTO ............................... 11 7 14


12 — 27 12 — 37


Power-play opportunities: Carolina 1 of 3; Toronto 2 of 8. Goalies: Carolina, Ward 15-11-3 (37 shots-34 saves). Toronto, Gustavsson 5-11-2 (27-23). A: 19,309 (18,819).


CAPITALSSCHEDULE


Saturday: at Pittsburgh 1:00 Tuesday: Tampa Bay 7:00 Jan. 8: Florida 7:00 Jan. 11: at Florida 7:30 Jan. 12: at Tampa Bay 7:30 Jan. 14: Vancouver 7:00 Jan. 16: Ottawa 3:00 Jan. 18: at Philadelphia 7:00 Jan. 20: at NY Islanders 7:00 Jan. 22: at Toronto 7:00 Jan. 24: NY Rangers 7:00 Jan. 26: at Atlanta 7:00 Feb. 1: Montreal 7:00 Feb. 4: at Tampa Bay 7:30 Feb. 6: Pittsburgh 12:30


0 1


1 — 4 0 — 3


0 1


FIRST PERIOD Scoring: 1, Chicago, Dowell 5 (Stalberg), 18:13.


0 — 1 2 — 3


1 1


3 — 4 1 — 2


2 1


0 — 3 3 — 5


1 1


0 0


0 — 1 0 — 2


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