INSIDE HOCKEY

Alex Ovechkin had his sixth career hat trick and added an assist to help the Washington Capitals end a three-game losing streak with a 5-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Wednesday night. Robert Marks photographed the game for Inside Hockey...

The Capitals are currently enjoying a five-game winning streak that included impressive victories over the conference-leading Boston Bruins and against Montreal on the road. They continue to distance themselves from the Southeast division pack and now hold an eight-point lead over second-place Carolina. The winning ways can be attributed largely to the team’s high-powered offense which has averaged almost four goals/game during the streak.

At what point are NHL officials going to be held accountable for the blown calls? Seems like there have been an awful lot of them across the league this season. The latest offense occurred in the third period of the Capitals’ 4-2 win over the Blues. With recently-returned sniper Alexander Semin getting up off the ice, David Backes delivered a blatant cross-check below the padding to Semin’s lower back.

Officials Mike Leggo and Kelly Sutherland evidently thought Semin dove on the play and decided not to whistle Backes for a penalty. They must have missed the part where Semin lay motionless on the ice for three minutes after his brilliant acting performance. Head coach Bruce Boudreau pleaded his case with the officials, telling them in choice language that Semin had already missed time with a back injury and that this wasn’t going to help. The Caps were hit with a two-minute bench minor for the exchange and St. Louis scored on the ensuing power play.

Much-feared Caps enforcer Donald Brashear took two of the next three shifts following the incident, challenging anyone who was in the vicinity to drop the gloves. Unfortunately for the Caps’ and their bloodthirsty fans, he found no willing takers and the cheap-shot went unpunished.

As an enforcer, he had done his job and followed the code. All he could do was challenge everyone he encountered in a blue jersey to a fight. Throwing such a punch at someone just isn’t an option, even in the NHL. Just ask Todd Bertuzzi how it worked out for him. The case now lies in the hands of the league. If Semin ends up missing significant time, the onus will be on the NHL to suspend Backes for his actions.

Alexander Ovechkin’s response when he saw his line-mate fall to Backes’ cross-check further established that he is the team’s emotional leader as well as its scoring leader. The megastar immediately sprinted over and pounced on Backes, prompting chants of “Ovie! Ovie!” from the 18,000-plus in attendance.

“Every time I see him he’s either hitting somebody or getting a chance to score, and tonight he’s protecting his teammates,” Boudreau said Thursday. “What more can you ask for? He’s a leader in every sense of the word.”

Defenseman Milan Jurcina looks like a completely different player since being paired with rookie Karl Alzner. He’s playing with much more confidence and is making quicker decisions, which in turn is giving him time to cut down the other team’s attackers.

As the second biggest body on one of the NHL’s biggest teams, Jurcina no longer appears shy about throwing around his weight and is starting to provide a physical presence that the Caps have sorely needed.

His inspired play is a testament to how quickly Alzner has caught up to the pace of NHL play in his rookie season. “He’s never out of position,” Forward Brooks Laich said of Alzner. “He gets the puck and moves it and doesn’t try to do too much. He’s also been a plus player, which is tough to do in this league.”