In light of Alexander Semin’s dramatics in last night’s win over New York, here was the prominent headline in today’s Washington Post sports section. (UPDATE: The Post changed the word “blast” to “goal” shortly after this post went up.)

Alexander Semin, center, celebrates a goal after another torrid night. (AP Photo/Nick Wass) Coach Bruce Boudreau knows Alexander Semin, who had a goal and three assists in the Capitals’ 4-2 win over Phoenix Saturday, has been playing well recently. Boudreau told reporters after Saturday’s game that he attributed it to a solid power play (the Caps lead the league in power play percentage) and the lines being able to stick together. But when asked…

Photo by michael starghill . Alex Ovechkin was named captain of the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, and the team celebrated the occasion with a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. “I’m gonna do my best…I have a ‘C’ on my heart,” Ovie said. It’s hard to argue with the team’s decision to give him the captaincy. Ovechkin’s got more hardware than Home Depot and, as the Caps press release reminded us, regularly attends other…

At times last night, it took all six Carolina players on the ice to deny the Caps.(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)Cam Ward probably won’t be sending Alexander Semin a Christmas card anytime soon. Semin, who scored two game-winning goals against Carolina last year (including one against Ward), had two goals Friday to lead the Capitals to a 4-3 win at Verizon Center over the Hurricanes. Mike Green scored the game-winning goal for the Caps in overtime….

The Caps’ explosive offense left Florida Panthers winger Mike Duco so frustrated that hefelt the need to attack Caps left wing Alexandre Giroux. Duco was rightfully ejected,and the Caps won 6-2. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) The Capitals-Panthers game was less than 10 minutes old Thursday night when one fan was already shouting, “come on, [Alex] Semin, make us happy to see you.” By the end of the period, Semin — playing in his first game…

Alex Semin was all over the ice Wednesday, helping Chris Clark andSemyon Varlamov push the Caps past the tricky Islanders. Photo by choofly. Welcome back, Captain Clark – with a little help from his trusty sidekicks Alex and Semyon, of course. Chris Clark was the eleventh Cap to take the ice in a shootout against the New York Islanders Wednesday night, and only the second Cap to score, but the captain’s tally was one…

Fans enraptured by a second period Caps goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs. After last night’s 6-4 victory over Toronto, the season the Caps are undefeated and scoring two goals for every one they give up. They have been defensively perfect from the start of any match until they have at least three goals of their own. Superstars Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin have scored three points in each game. Both Caps starting goalies…

Photo by lis_glass Tomorrow night’s Caps game at Verizon Center features the four most talented hockey players on earth competing in a winner take all, game seven, series final struggle for playoff survival. We’ll have the last two winners of the NHL’s Hart Trophy (player most valuable to his team) playing out a rivalry that has made hockey important even to non-fans. Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have been billed for years as the…

For all the criticism out there about Caps left wing Alexander Semin’s fighting style, we’d like to point out that New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal is equally bad at curl and drag fakes, nifty stickhandling moves and goal scoring. While the big lumbering defenseman may fight in a more traditional hockey style, we like Semin’s originality in the above video from this weekend’s Caps victory. Yes, Semin might be the first NHL player…

When the NHL named Alexander Semin its First Star of the month for October, we chided our media colleagues for paying more attention to Alex Ovechkin’s visit to his sick grandfather. Yes, Ovechkin won all four of the NHL’s trophies for scoring leaders and most valuable players, but that was last year. Why, we asked, was the best player of October 2008 any less exciting than the best player of 2007-2008? Ovechkin, of course, just…