FanHouse JeffSchultz

For two periods Wednesday night's Penguins-Capitals tilt lived up to the hype -- and we certainly hyped it. Following some spirited trash talk between Alex Ovechkin and the Penguins bench prior to the start of the third period, Ovechkin transformed himself into a one-man wrecking crew, as he helped take over the game and lead the Capitals to a 6-3 win.

The Capitals scored four goals in the third period -- including two from Ovechkin -- as they snapped a three-game losing skid. Meanwhile, for the Penguins, the inconsistencies continued, as they failed to win back-to-back games yet again. In case you haven't been paying attention, the Penguins have not won consecutive games since the middle of November.

With the team reeling after a 1-3 road trip and with seven regulars out with injuries, the Washington Capitals put a call into their AHL affiliate in Hershey and called up four players to join the big club in time for tonight's game against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Arriving in Washington today are defensemen Karl Alzner and Sami Lepisto, as well as forwards Chris Bourque and Graham Mink. In order to clear the cap space the team needs for the call ups, the team also moved team captain and right wing Chris Clark and defenseman Jeff Schultz to the long-term IR.

The list of the walking wounded doesn't end with Clark and Schultz. Alexander Semin, Sergei Fedorov, Boyd Gordon, John Erskine and Mike Green are also injured, leaving some tremendous holes in the lineup that were all too apparent as the road trip wore on and the losses mounted. What should be interesting about this move is the perception that Alzner and Bourque could have very well made the team out of training camp if it hadn't been for the team's cap situation.

(HT: Japers' Rink)