Saturday Caps Clips: Thrashers @ Caps Game Day

Your savory Saturday brunch links:

• On this morning’s episode of Japers’ Rink Radio, Pepper and Russell welcomed two all-stars to the show. CSN color analyst and former Caps sniper Craig Laughlin discussed the Tomas Fleischmann/Scott Hannan trade, and then Globe and Mail hockey editor James Mirtle chatted about everything else. The show’s available for download now on iTunes. [JRR]
• Previews of this evening’s second-to-last regular season throwdown with the Thrashers from Caps.com (plus game notes), NHL.com (Rosen, who seems to have forgotten about the Caps’ season opening loss), AJC.com, Peerless, RLS, and be sure to check out our SB Nation partner Bird Watchers Anonymous for more coverage from the other side of tonight’s match up.
• Happy anniversary MCI Verizon Center! But we need to talk. [Peerless]
• Hooray! The Caps have their rugged veteran shutdown defender. Lots of free time now to fret about that whole second line center thing. [WaPo (Carrera), Ted’s Take]
• Alex Ovechkin…
• …shot by shot, and maybe ought to be shooting more… [RtR]
• …had five memorable goals plays this past week… [CSN]
• …is a setup man… [WaPo (Carrera)]
• …and a proud metric football-playing son of Russia… [CSN (Masisak)]
• …but his stock is falling. [ESPN (Burnside)]
• On the flip side of the coin, Sidney Crosby just might be all that. Your move, Alex. [RLS]
• “Did you know Alexander Semin also kills penalties?” Imagine that. [Puck Prospectus]
• With Semyon Varlamov returning to health and joining Michal Neuvirth in tending the Caps’ net, it’s almost like a plan coming together. Huh. [DC Examiner (McNally)]
• The Caps’ last six games in Fenwick. [RLS]
• Last call for Goalwavedoffgate [SI (Hackel), Caps video (Boudreau)]
• D’ya want Brett Leonhardt to DJ the Winter Classic warmups? Us too. Go here. [Facebook]
• Survey says… [Sports Business Daily]
• Karl Alzner, Jeff Schultz, and Matt Hendricks walk into an embassy and mustachio’d magnificence ensues. Well done, mates. [British Embassy on Flickr]
• Finally, will the Caps’ home sellout streak end any time soon? [Holden]