Dale Hunter

PREDATORS @CAPITALS Tuesday, 7 p.m. TV: Comcast SportsNet In each of the past three games, the Capitals have mustered just one goal. Go back a little further, and Washington has scored just one goal in nine out of the past 16 games dating to Nov. 15 against the Nashville Predators. The Capitals have undergone a coaching and system change since that loss to Nashville, but some of the mistakes that plagued the team a month ago continue to arise: from sloppy defensive play to a failure to forecheck and crash the net to generate multiple chances when they gain the offensive zone.

WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- Over the past 11 seasons, the Washington Capitals have produced the fifth-best record in the NHL and have lost in the first round of the playoffs five times.In that time, they've never had an offensive star to lead them to a title, and as they begin their 20th season here tonight, they still don't.But maybe the Capitals have the next best thing -- toughness."I thought part of our problem last season was that we were intimidated," said coach Terry Murray. "I think, sometimes, it helps to have the loaded gun on the bench."

The Washington Capitals need more than soul-searching. Caught in a four-game losing streak, they need something more tangible. They need a rally, beginning tonight in Toronto against the undefeated Maple Leafs."

LANDOVER -- Michal Pivonka had a better idea yesterday afternoon and the result was that the Washington Capitals emerged from their showdown with the Philadelphia Flyers with a 2-2 tie."I'm going to make him assistant coach," said Capitals coach Jim Schoenfeld. "He designed the play."Pivonka had been facing off against the Flyers' Craig MacTavish all afternoon. He noticed that whenever he lost the draw, the puck invariably scooted out to MacTavish's forehand, which meant that Pivonka wanted someone with a left-handed shot along the boards.

Finding a way to respond from demoralizing, soul-crushing defeats is nothing new for the Washington Capitals this season. They've managed to follow up disappointing losses by rallying around one another for weeks now, throughout the playoffs and dating to the end of the regular season. When they host the New York Rangers for Game 6 tonight, though, the Capitals will face the greatest challenge to their collective resiliency as they try to stave off elimination. Washington trails the top-seeded Rangers three games to two in their Eastern Conference semifinal series, and a loss at Verizon Center would end the Caps' season.

As the Washington Capitals sat in the dressing room at their Arlington, Va., practice facility ahead of a flight to Boston for a final showdown with the Boston Bruins in this Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, the mood was noticeably loose. Players lobbed well-intended jabs at one another, exchanged jokes with reporters and seemed relaxed to the point that an uninformed observer might not have believed the team will be fighting to keep its season alive tonight in Game 7 at TDGarden.

Over the weekend at the Washington Capitals' practice facility in Arlington, Va., Jason Chimera sprayed water around the dressing room after his group won a scrimmage in a shootout. It was all in jest, as though the players had won the Stanley Cup, but it's the kind of thing that teammates have come to expect from the jovial veteran, who is on pace for a career-best season. Through the first third of the 2011-12 campaign, Chimera is tied for the team lead in goals (11), second in plus-minus rating (plus-9)

So what's all the fuss over fighting?Cherry says fans should swing rulesSo, what's wrong with a fight breaking out at a hockey game, anyway? Anyone going to Washington Capitals games has to enjoy the form demonstrated by center Dale Hunter -- he of the whirling-dervish fists pummeling both sides of an opposing player's rib cage at the same time."

LANDOVER -- Washington center Dale Hunter missed Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series with the Pittsburgh Penguins last night.It is the second time Hunter has missed a playoff game in his 14 seasons. The last time was in 1985, when he was with the Quebec Nordiques.Hunter suffered what was termed a "sore leg" when he was tripped in the second period of Game 2. He didn't skate Wednesday, but team officials had anticipated Hunter would be ready for last night's game.But by yesterday morning, the injury had become worse and the team thinks it might be a hip flexor injury.

On April 21, 2008, EVELYN IRENE (nee Hunter); loving mother of Gary Palmer, Wayne Palmer, Dawn Kmieciak, Richard Parry, Jr., Shelly Naylor; cherished grandmother of eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren; dear sister of Paul Hunter, Sr., Wanda Fleming and Dale Hunter, Sr. Funeral service will be held at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue, Thursday 10 A.M. Interment Holly Hill Memorial Gardens. Friends may call Wednesday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M.