Photo by Ghost_Bear

Tonight the Capitals came from behind to beat the Florida Panthers 7-4. With Alex Ovechkin and Mike Green among a slew of injured players, Mike Knuble put up four points to spark the win. The total tied his personal best, from Valentine’s Day, 2003. Asked what it was like to be a leader on this team, Knuble calmly dismissed the assertion. “It’s just one game,” he said, talking up the importance of hard work over a long season.

Throughout his conversations with the press, Knuble humbly echoed several of coach Bruce Boudreau’s thoughts about the meaning of the game. In separate interviews after the dramatic win over their division rival, both Boudreau and Knuble said that the key to the Caps’ success in the third period was understanding the importance of a win tonight for the entire season.

Boudreau said that after the second period he didn’t yell at his players. He just told them what the game meant. He told them that Carolina had lost and that if Florida lost, it would put some distance in the divisional race. He said he wanted the Caps to realize that Florida would remember this game, and that it would affect their confidence for the rest of the season as they thought about whether they could catch up.