Despite losing streak Washington Capitals are still top scoring NHL team

The Washington Capitals might not be winning all their games, but members of the team are making headlines after the Caps beat the Atlanta Thrasher last night.

In the beginning, the Caps hockey season held a lot of hope and excitement for fans.

They were on a run to try to take over a winning streak by the Pittsburgh Penguins, who have a record of 17 back in their season from 1992-93.

However, the Caps were stopped at game 15 by Montreal in February.

After that game, the team from Washington seemed to start to unravel a bit at the seems as they hit a slump they just couldn’t get rid of.

But the Caps became the first NHL team to have 3 players score 30 or more goals in one season when Nicklas Backstrom tallied his 30th in a 2-1 win over the Thrashers last night.

With Alex Ovechkin totaling 46 and Alexander Semin with 37, it i’s the third time in the last four seasons that the Caps have had three guys with 30 goals.

Ovie and Semin have been two of the trio in all three of those seasons, but they’ve been joined by a different player each time–Chris Clark in 2006-07  and Mike Green in 2008-09.

The Caps had lost three games prior to last nights against the Atlanta Thrashers, but pushed through and remain the NHL’s highest scoring team.

This was the 50 win for the Caps which ties the club record which was set back in the 1985-86 and 2008-09 seasons. Not only that, but the Caps won all five meetings this season against the Thrashers, by a combined score of 24-11.

Canada steals the gold from USA in overtime in the winter Olympic hockey game

Team USA men’s hockey fought one of the best players in the league and took him and his team, Team Canada to overtime; but were defeated and took home the silver medal.

Sidney Crosby, who plays for the Pittsburgh Penguins, returned to his home soil to play with his national home team; Crosby was also the player who shot the puck in overtime to earn the gold medal for his country.

Crosby’s shot was unbelievable in itself:

With the gold literally riding on this game, in overtime, Crosby took the puck and shot to the corner. Teammate Jarome Iginla and American defenseman Ryan Suter soared toward it.

Canada's Sidney Crosby (87) leaps in the air after making the game-winning goal in the overtime period of a men's gold medal ice hockey game against USA at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010. Canada won 3-2. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

Crosby reacted by skating toward the net–just a second before American defenseman, Brian Rafalski, could react and help Suter who fought against Inginla–Inginla won the battle and took the puck.

Crosby took the pass–centered it–turned.

He was faced with a big obstacle in the form of Ryan Miller, the MVP of the Olympic hockey games.

Washington Capitals end winning streak in overtime loss

The Washington Capitals were on a hot streak for the past month or so, winning 14 games in a row which ended in a 6-5 overtime victory to the Montreal Canadians earlier tonight.

The Caps trailed behind until a come back from behind thriller in the 3rd period as  Brooks Laich tied it at 5 for Washington, scoring his third goal of the game with 18.4 seconds left.

In overtime, it was the Canadians who skated away with the W as Alex Semin missed a goal and Tomas Plekanec took the puck to the other end of the ice to score and end the Caps winning streak.

The Caps  had the longest winning streak in the NHL since the Pittsburgh Penguins set the league mark with 17 consecutive victories in 1992-93 season. Only the Pens and the 1981-82 New York Islanders (15 straight victories) have longer streaks than Washington did.

For more information on the game, check out box scores and stats.

Montreal Canadiens' Brian Gionta, left, and Washington Capitals' Alexander Semin (28) reach for the puck during first-period NHL hockey game action in Montreal, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010. ((AP Photos/The Canadian Press,Graham Hughes))