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Four years ago the Washington Capitals participated in a Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, but Alex Ovechkin and company will get to host the New Years Day outdoor contest for the time when they host the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 edition at Nationals Park. The Capitals can become the first team to earn two Winter Classic victories on Thursday. Washington beat the Penguins, 3-1, at Heinz Field in 2011, with Eric Fehr scoring two goals to lead the Caps to victory. Todays battle among the elements also marks the second Winter Classic appearance for the Blackhawks, who lost to Detroit, 6-4, at Wrigley Field on Jan. 1, 2010. Chicago and Washington join the Penguins, Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers as the only two-time participants in the Winter Classic. The Blackhawks will be playing in their third outdoor game overall, having also hosted an NHL Stadium Series game at Soldier Ford on March 1 of last season. Chicago routed the visiting Penguins, 5-1, in that contest. The Winter Classic is one of two outdoor games on the NHL docket for this season. The other one is a Stadium Series clash between Los Angeles and San Jose on Feb. 21 at Levis Stadium, home of the NFLs San Francisco 49ers. More than 40,000 fans are expected to be in attendance for todays battle at the home of Major League Baseballs Washington Nationals and the Caps are hoping to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about. When it comes to the Capitals, all eyes are usually on Ovechkin, the clubs superstar winger, but Fehr is getting his share of the attention in D.C. at the moment thanks to his memorable two-goal performance in the 2011 Winter Classic. Any fan that talks to me, generally thats the first thing they say, is thanks for the Winter Classic, Fehr recently told the Washington Post. They say thank you, like I did something. Its kind of funny. The 29-year-old Fehr has 10 goals and five assists in 33 games this season, and he is hoping to add to those numbers by grabbing the spotlight again on Thursday. Washington had a strong December, as it recorded at least a point in 11 of 13 games by going 8-2-3 during the month. However, the Caps have lost two of three heading into the Winter Classic and are coming off Mondays overtime loss against the New York Islanders. The Caps went 1-1-1 on their three-game road trip and lost the finale at Nassau Coliseum by a 4-3 count after Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk buried a slap shot less than three minutes into the extra session. Boychuks goal came just seconds from the end of a four-minute power play New York received after Washingtons Evgeny Kuznetsov was whistled for a high sticking double-minor late in the third period. Although they lost in OT, the Capitals were glad to come away with a point. Washington was down 3-0 before scoring three consecutive goals in the third period. Ovechkin tied it the with 2:41 left in regulation, scoring on a wrist shot for his 17th goal of the season. Fehr and Nicklas Backstrom also scored for the Capitals, while Braden Holtby stopped 35 in the loss. Holtby is expected to start today against Chicago No. 1 netminder Corey Crawford. Holtby is 2-1-0 with a 3.28 goals against average in his career against the Blackhawks, while Crawford has a lifetime 2-2-1 record and a 3.62 GAA in this matchup. Chicago will aim for a third straight win today, as the Central Division leaders are coming off recent wins over Colorado and Nashville. The Blackhawks scored five goals in each victory, beating the Avalanche 5-2 on the road this past Saturday before recording a 5-4 shootout win Monday against the visiting Predators. Like the Caps did in their last game, the Blackhawks needed to dig themselves out of a hole to get Mondays test to overtime. The difference is Chicago was able to win the game after captain Jonathan Toews registered the only goal of the shootout. Chicago rallied from 3-0 down to tie the game in the second period, but the Blackhawks would need another comeback to push the game to an extra session. Nashvilles James Neal put the visitors ahead 4-3 with a power-play tally in the final minute of the second and the score stayed that way until Bryan Bickell tallied for the Blackhawks with Crawford pulled in favor of the extra attacker. Bickells goal was his fifth of the season and tied the contest at 4-4 with 1:13 remaining in regulation. Brad Richards, Andrew Shaw and Marian Hossa also scored in regulation for Chicago. Crawford turned aside 36-of-40 shots in regulation and overtime before stopping all three Nashville attempts in the shootout. Weve been in a lot of situations over the years where we know that were never out of it, said Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith. Washington hopes to continue its recent success against the Blackhawks, as the Caps have claimed two straight and five of the last seven games in this series. On the injury front, Washington defenseman Brooks Orpik expects to be a game- time decision with an injured right knee. For Chicago, defenseman Michal Rozsival is expected to play after sitting out Mondays game with a lower-body injury. The game is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. ET, but there is a chance the start time could get pushed back if sun glare becomes a problem. . Robert Griffin III, the No. 2 pick in the 2012 draft, set numerous rookie records and was picked AP Offensive Rookie of the Year for the Washington Redskins. .What they got was a bevy of players chipping in to pick up the slack.Josh Smith scored 18 points and James Harden added 17 as the Rockets used a balanced scoring effort to outlast the Mavericks for a 99-94 victory. ." Those traits were clear to the 24,071 at Olympic Stadium on Saturday as the Impact dominated the scoring chances but settled for a 2-2 draw with the New York Red Bulls in a battle of still-winless Major League Soccer teams. . His brother — Red Lake chiropractor Richard Radford — is en route to Sochi to cheer on his younger brother. "Ive been getting texts from Eric and he just says the atmosphere is amazing, its special,” he said. .com) - The Tampa Bay Buccaneers quickly found themselves a new offensive coordinator, and one thats quite familiar with the NFC South.VAL-DOR, Que. -- Anthony Duclair and Lucas Batt each scored twice and Cody Donaghey had four assists as the Quebec Remparts downed the host Val-dOr Foreurs 8-5 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Mikhail Grigorenko and Adam Erne had a goal and an assist apiece for the Remparts (28-12-8), who extended their win streak to five games, while Nick Sorensen and Fabrice Herzog scored the others. Olivier Archambault chipped in with three assists. Anthony Mantha, Pierre-Maxime Poudrier, Anthony Richard, Louick Marcotte and Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored for the Foreurs (30-17-2). Quebecs Francois Brassard made 48 saves for the win as Val-dOrs Antoine Bibeau gave up seven goals on 27 shots. --- OCEANIC 2 VOLTIGEURS 1 (SO) DRUMMONDVILLE, Que. -- Anthony DeLuca scored the only goal of the shootout as Rimouski slipped past the Voltigeurs. Loic Leduc scored in regulation for the Oceanic (29-13-7) while Philippe Desrosiers made 32 saves for the victory. William Carrier supplied the offence for Drummondville (29-16-3) and Louis-Philip Guindon stopped 24-of-25 shots in defeat. Rimouskis Frederik Gauthier was stopped by Guindon on a penalty shot 6:14 into the second period. --- CATARACTES 2 PHOENIX 1 SHERBROOKE, Que. -- Shawinigan used its power play to topple the Phoenix for just its third win in its last 10 outings. Dylan Labbe and Anthony Beauvillier scored with the man advantage for the Cataractes (12-29-7), who went 2 for 4 on the night, while Felix-Antoine Bergeron assisted on both. Tim Wieser scored for Sherbrooke (15-28-6), which went 1 for 6 with the power play. Marvin Cupper made 23 saves for Shawinigan. Maxime Lagace stopped 10-of-12 shots for the Phoenix, but left the game after two periods. Gabriel Parent turned away all seven shots he faced in relief. --- MOOSEHEADS 4 SCREAMING EAGLES 2 HALIFAX -- Timo Meier scored once and set up two more as the Mooseheads doubled up Cape Breton for their seventh straight victory. Brendan Duke, Andrew Shewfelt and Brent Andrews also scored for Halifax (33-16-1). Kyle Farrell scored once for the Screaminng Eagles (25-20-3) and also assisted on Loik Leveilles goal.dddddddddddd Zachary Fucale made 21 saves for the Mooseheads as Cape Bretons Alex Bureau stopped 29-of-33 shots in defeat. --- WILDCATS 2 TITAN 0 MONCTON, N.B. -- Jason Rioux stopped all 29 shots his way as the Wildcats handed Acadie-Bathurst its sixth loss in a row. Conor Garland scored both goals for Moncton (25-23-2) on the power play while Jacob Sweeney picked up two assists. Raphael Lafontaine led all Titan (17-27-5) skaters with five shots on Rioux. Acadie-Bathurts Jacob Brennan turned aside 32-of-34 shots in a losing cause. --- DRAKKAR 4 SEA DOGS 1 SAINT JOHN, N.B. -- Charles Hudon had a goal and an assist as Baie-Comeau extended its win streak to seven games by defeating the Sea Dogs. Bokondji Imama, Charles Poulin and Valentin Zykov also scored for the Drakkar (32-12-4), who sit atop the QMJHL standings. Saint John (14-29-4) got its goal from Nathan Noel. Baie-Comeaus Philippe Cadorette made 22 saves while Sebastien Auger gave the Sea Dogs a chance by kicking out 49-of-53 shots. --- ARMADA 3 OLYMPIQUES 2 (SO) BOISBRIAND, Que. -- Nikita Jevpalovs scored the winner in the sixth round of the shootout as the Armada avoided a four-game skid by edging Gatineau. Marcus Hinds and Ryan Tesink scored in regulation for Blainville-Boisbriand (29-10-9). Emile Poirier had a goal and an assist for the Olympiques (28-17-3) and Alex Dostie scored once. Etienne Marcoux made 23 saves for the Armada while Gatineaus Robert Steeves stopped 26-of-28 shots in a losing cause. --- TIGRES 4 ISLANDERS 2 VICTORIAVILLE, Que. -- Ross Johnston had a pair of goals and an assist as the Tigres doubled up Charlottetown for their seventh straight win. Yan Pavel Laplante and Cameron Yarwood also scored for Victoriaville (23-19-6) and Mark Tremaine tacked on two assists. Bradley Kennedy and Spenser Cobbold scored for the Islanders (17-27-5), who dropped their sixth contest in a row. Francois Tremblay made 26 saves for the Tigres. Charlottetowns Mason MacDonald turned away 35-of-39 shots in defeat. ' ' '
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