Saturday Caps Clips: Flying High

Your savory breakfast links:

• Recaps and other assorted musings on last night's win from us, Monumental video (Oates, Holtby, players), Vogs, NHL.com, AP, SportsXchange, WaPo (gamer, Svrluga), WashTimes, CSNW (gamer, Joe B), DCEx (gamer, blog), Frankovic, Peerless, Caps Basketball, DSP (and more), Capitals Outsider, OFB, Hockey Shopped, Puckhead and RMNB, and with the view from up I-95, the Flyers, Philly.com (more, with pics), and our SB Nation pals over at Broad Street Hockey.
  • John Erskine should be expecting a call from Brendan Shanahan very soon - and it almost certainly won't be to chat about the weather. [Puck Daddy, Wash Times, WaPo, DCEx, CSNW, Sportsnet, KK, CBS Sports, RMNB]
  • Big night for Nicklas Backstrom, who ended his scoring drought with a huge breakaway goal (and an assist for good measure). Super Swede: Activate!! [RMNB, Alex Ovetjkin]
  • And of course last night marked former Cap Mike Knuble's return to Verizon Center, this time as the enemy. So at least we know he had plenty of time to chat with Braden Holtby. [CSNW]
  • Last night was a relief... but the pressure's not off just yet for Adam Oates and the Caps. [SI]
• Looking ahead to tomorrow's matinee with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and how what used to be the Sid and Ovi Show has turned into the Evgeny Malkin Variety Hour (with special guest, Charo). [NHL.com]
• Good news out of Chocolatetown as Dmitry Orlov has begun skating, apparently on the road to recovery from an upper-body injury that's sidelined him for almost two months. [PennLive]
• He's had his struggles, but one thing seems to be clear about Alex Ovechkin - he's buying into Adam Oates' system. Next step: executing it. (Oddly enough, playing with Mike Ribeiro seems to be helping...) [Sportsnet]
• The Caps are lucky enough to boast two young, talented netminders; now they're just waiting for one of them to step up, steal some games and be The Man between the pipes going forward. [Sick, Unbelievable]
• Hard to believe that it's been twenty years since Gary Bettman first seized power of the NHL, isn't it? Ah, the early nineties...heady times, filled with blissful ignorance of what was to come. [SI (and again)]
• Because it's never not funny to hear the Caps discuss who is the best-looking member of the team, here are the Caps...well, discussing who is the best-looking member of the team. Enjoy! [Bog]
• And finally, happy 36th birthday to Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre and happy 53rd to Lee Norwood.