Brooks Laich (seen here in skates only) managed to record an assist after he was flipped into the bench by Tanner Glass (15); but it was the Caps who ended up taking it on the chin, 3-2. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Darryl Dyck)

Canucks 3, Capitals 2: Vancouver’s Mason Raymond scored twice — once to tie the game, and then the winner — as the Canucks upended the Capitals last night. Raymond’s game-decider came on the power play, as Tom Poti’s mouthing to the refs got him an extra two minutes in the box after he was busted for cross-checking. Fans in the home of the 2010 Winter Olympics were pretty excited to see Alex Ovechkin, but the usually-dynamic Russian was held pointless for only the sixth time this season. It was a rather disappointing result for Washington, especially after yet another strong first period saw Alex Semin and Chris Clark post the Caps to a 2-1 lead at intermission. With first-choice netminder Semyon Varlamov still out with injury, Jose Theodore got the start. He was again medicore, stopping only 17 of 20 shots. Varlamov could return as early as tomorrow night in Edmonton — good thing too, since the Caps recent struggles have taken them back off the pace in the East to third behind Pittsburgh and New Jersey.

Wizards 118, Warriors 109: In a battle between two scoring guards who really, really didn’t want to lose, Gilbert Arenas out-dueled Monta Ellis, and the Wizards snapped a six-game losing streak in Oakland. Arenas, who has been putting up some big numbers despite the multiple losses, had another big night in the box score — 45 points, his most since January 2007, and 13 assists — but more importantly, Agent Zero was completely unguardable down the stretch. It was the vintage, clutch Gilbert we fondly remember; late in the fourth, Arenas was either making shots, almost effortlessly finding his way to the bucket, or creating open shots for his teammates. Caron Butler, Antawn Jamison, and Brendan Haywood also all chipped in with double-doubles in one of the more cohesive games the Wizards have played in some time. Of course, it’s telling that the Wizards’ six losses before tonight was by a combined 14 points; if only Flip Saunders could coax this kind of effort every night, we probably would be talking about the Wizards’ playoff potential, especially in the weak East. The Wizards currently sit at 8-16 — which might sound bad, but it’s still only two games out of the playoffs as we near the one-third mark of the season.