MVN: Most Valuable Network

A sixth straight sell out in Washington last night was significant because generally when the two I-95 rivals, the Washington Capitals (27-11-3) and the Philadelphia Flyers (21-10-9) meet, the Philly-faithful will travel with the team.

Much has been made of the developing rivalry as of late. This game has become so not only because the two teams played to a game seven last season and both are at the top of their divisions, but because Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Alex Ovechkin, and Nicklas Bakstrom, most notably are the face of the future NHL.

Both teams have a sense that they they will remain good for years to come. They're both really young and talented and scarier is with all the youth that they are both leading their divisions.

The game had a "measuring stick" feel to it and that's going to continue when these teams play for years.

Last meeting the Flyers were out shot by twenty yet still managed a blow out 7-1 win. 

Two minutes into this game, on the powerplay, Backstrom showed by scoring the first goal why he will be the future of the NHL. It would stay a one goal game until Braydon Coburn, who registered eight shots to lead the Flyers, scored early in the third period also on the power play.

The Capitals were playing for a true home town crowd, that included Tony Kornheiser, and the Flyer fans present were at the least drowned out. The caliber of play on the ice reflected the enthusiasm in the rafters - an exciting precursor to what might ensue in April.

"They're starting to get some fans now, I guess," Philadelphia center Jeff Carter said. "We can't buy all the tickets."

Alex Ovechkin and the Caps were able to push past the Flyers in a playoff-intense game that ended in a Capital shootout win with Jose Theodore stoning Simon Gagne who returned after missing two games, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter in succession in the shootout.

If this was a measuring stick game it looked pretty evenly matched. For all the offense these two squads can produce the goalies were the stars both stopping 33 of 34 shots. This is the seventh straight win for the Capitals.

As with rivalries, the game within the games tend be the most entertaining:

After Alexander Semin's comical first NHL fight, Scott Hartnell couldn't let that one go and mimicked the punches/slaps that Semin had thrown. It leaves one with the feeling the nickname "Bongos" may never escape Semin.

With Joffrey Lupol, injured the Luca Sbisa right wing experiment continues. He looked out of place at times but understandably so. The kid has a ton of talent in that stick and good size. What might happen if he starts to develop into a good option for a wing? Does he stay?

In a display of gamesmanship, literally seconds prior to overtime, Martin Biron pointed out the Zamboni missed a spot on the Flyers side of the ice. The refs agreed and the Zamboni crew return to finish the job garnering a loud "Flyers suck!" chant and a ten minute delay.

Carter, Richards and Ovechkin seem to have their targets set on one another as they were lining each other up all night. At one point Ovechkin tried to take Carter's head off with a check coming over the blue line. Carter was able to jump away from the hit and Ovechkin's shoulder landed square into teammate Chris Clark, dropping both Caps to the ice as Carter skated off.

The Flyers will play the Minnesota Wild (20-16-3) tomorrow at 7:00 pm in the first home game in over two weeks.

Minnesota is coming off a 1-0 shutout win over the Boston Bruins, the best team in the East.

The Wild are a little banged up with oft injured Marion Gaborik out for significant time with hip surgery he will receive that is scheduled Monday. Mark-Andre Bergeron is out with a knee injury.

Former Flyer Kim Johnsson missed the last game with a family emergency but should play Thursday.

The Wild is 2-0-1 in its past three, after a 4-9-1 December.

Aged veteran Owen Nolan scored his first two goal game with Minnesota on Sunday in Colorado. He has registered 8 points in the last 9 games. 

"Confidence is a big thing," Nolan said. "When you have confidence, you feel like you can do no wrong. Flip side, when you have none, it seems everything goes wrong. You can't buy a win, you can't get a bounce, you can't get a call.

"We're feeling pretty good about ourselves right now."