Peter Bondra

At the NHL All-Star Game last month, everyone talked about how lucky Washington Capitals right wing Peter Bondra was to be playing on a line with Eric Lindros and John LeClair. No one considered that Lindros and LeClair might have been the lucky ones.Bondra won the league's goal-scoring title during the 1995 lockout-shortened season and leads the Capitals in scoring this season with 32 goals and 56 points, but he remains the NHL's most unrecognized offensive force."Yeah, I won the goal scoring, but it was short season," Bondra said.

The Washington Capitals and 1st Mariner Arena announced today that they will make a "special" announcement Monday afternoon at the arena. Baltimore city officials and Capitals GM George McPhee will be in attendance, so expect a pretty significant announcement. This is pure speculation here -- and maybe a little bit of wishful thinking -- but it wouldn't surprise me if they revealed that the Capitals plan on playing a preseason exhibition at 1st Mariner Arena sometime in September.

Peter Bondra, the right wing of the Washington Capitals, grew up waiting for his brother, Juraj, to bring him his used hockey sticks. "I was always so happy with his stick," Bondra said after a recent game. "I'd be asleep, but would hear him come in and I'd get up and go ask him, `Did you bring me a stick?' " Most of the time, Juraj, who played professional hockey in Czechoslovakia, did bring his younger brother what he wanted, only to see him take it and work diligently to curve the blade.

Peter Bondra , who scored 503 NHL goals, will participate in a question-and-answer session and sign autographs at a free Washington Capitals pre-playoff party at ESPN Zone in Baltimore on Wednesday at at 8 p.m. Capitals broadcaster Steve Kolbe will be the emcee, and the team's mascot, Slapshot, will be on hand. Pro basketball: Maryland GreenHawks center Michael Anderson and guard Scooter Sherrill were voted to the Premier Basketball League West All-Star team for the game May 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Right wing Peter Bondra is attempting to become the first Washington Capital to win the NHL's goal-scoring title.He leads the Quebec Nordiques' Owen Nolan, 32-30, and both players have two regular-season games remaining. The Caps play Florida today and Pittsburgh on Tuesday, and the Nordiques play New Jersey today and Hartford on Wednesday."I am on top now and I would like to stay there," said Bondra. "But most important is that the team wins, and no matter what happens to me, it is already a confidence-builder for me just to be on top with those other big guys, like Nolan, Brett Hull or [Theoren]

College Babe Zaharias Female Athlete of the Year -- Awarded to 14-time All-American Suzy Favor, the winningest woman in NCAA track and field history, who competes in indoor and outdoor track for Wisconsin.Pro basketball NBA -- Named Rick Adelman, whose Portland Trail Blazers won in a row to start the season and were 12-1 last month, Coach of the Month for November.Pro football NFL -- Named Washington Redskins T Jim Lachey NFC Offensive Player of the Week.Pro hockey NHL -- Named Washington Capitals RW Peter Bondra (7 goals, 9 assists)

Peter Bondra , who scored 503 NHL goals, will participate in a question-and-answer session and sign autographs at a free Washington Capitals pre-playoff party at ESPN Zone in Baltimore on Wednesday at at 8 p.m. Capitals broadcaster Steve Kolbe will be the emcee, and the team's mascot, Slapshot, will be on hand. Pro basketball: Maryland GreenHawks center Michael Anderson and guard Scooter Sherrill were voted to the Premier Basketball League West All-Star team for the game May 2 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

VS. EDMONTON OILERS* WHEN: Tonight, 8:05.* WHERE: Capital Centre.VS. FLYERS* WHEN: Sunday, 1:35.* WHERE: Capital Centre.* TV/RADIO: Both on HTS and WMAL-AM 630.* OUTLOOK: The Capitals lost newly recalled center Reggie Savage to a groin pull at practice yesterday and have recalled defensive right wing Tim Bergland for the weekend. The Caps (25-28-3), in fifth place in the Patrick Division, got a big third period Tuesday night to defeat Vancouver, 5-3. The team is still without Rod Langway, Peter Bondra and Steve Leach.

Opponent: New Jersey DevilsSite: Continental Airlines Arena, East Rutherford, N.J.Time: 7: 30TV/Radio: None/WWLG (1360), WTEM (570)Outlook: The Capitals have their third chance of the season to reach .500, but it comes against the Devils, a team that has not lost to Washington since April Fool's Day 1994. The Caps have lost eight straight to New Jersey since then. New Jersey (8-5-1) has not lost in its last four games and is led by Bobby Holik's 14 points and by Dave Andreychuk and Bill Guerin, who have six goals each.

WASHINGTON - The New Jersey Devils came to MCI Center last night with gaudy statistics. They had nine shutouts in 19 victories and had allowed a league-low 59 goals. They were facing the Washington Capitals, a team that had managed just one goal in each of their past three games - all losses, including a humiliating rout in Buffalo on Wednesday. But despite missing two of their top four goals scorers in Peter Bondra (groin) and Dainius Zubrus (ankle), the Capitals put up a superb battle to earn a 2-2 overtime tie with the 2003 Stanley Cup champion.

WASHINGTON - Peter Bondra had worked hard all night, taking chances, playing defense, helping to negate a major penalty by drawing the opposition into a slashing penalty on a breakaway. So maybe it was just that as the final minute was being played Bondra found himself at the far post and in the perfect position to knock in the Washington Capitals' game-winning goal against the Montreal Canadiens. "Sometimes it takes being in the right spot at the right time," Bondra, the Caps' all-time leader in points, and power-play, short-handed and game-winning goals, said after his goal with 53.8 seconds left gave the Caps the 3-2 win. "Goal scorers - not that I'm calling myself a goal scorer, but if you work hard, the puck will find you, sooner or later for the good of the team."

WASHINGTON - The Washington Capitals are still looking for their offensive stars, but for one night, anyway, they played the thoughtful, controlled defensive game they have to play to win, and held on to a 2-1 victory over the Southeast Division co-leading Atlanta Thrashers. The win ended the Caps' eight-game winless streak and six-game losing streak and provided their first winning celebration since opening night at MCI Center. Washington is 2-7-1, heading into tonight's game at Minnesota.

The Washington Capitals cleaned out their lockers and had individual meetings with their coach and general manager yesterday at their Odenton practice facility. A year ago, those interviews led to the firing of the coach. This year, there will be nothing so dramatic. But that doesn't mean the Caps are at ease after losing their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal series to the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropping four straight games after going up 2-0. Veteran Calle Johansson, the team's anchor on defense, played just 13 minutes in the 2-1, triple-overtime loss in Game 6 and was vocal about his discontent, threatening to quit.

WASHINGTON - First goal wins. Through three games, that had been the story of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the Washington Capitals and Tampa Bay Lightning. It put a premium on the first goal in Game 4 last night. And once Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis scored it 11:55 into the second period, the Lightning was on its way to a 3-1 victory that evened the best-of-seven series at two games apiece. "It seems to be the secret to success," said Washington coach Bruce Cassidy.

Jaromir Jagr skated in front of Washington Capitals goalie Olie Kolzig at practice yesterday and batted a flying puck into the net. As Jagr skated away, he looked back at Kolzig. The two exchanged playful looks, then Jagr began to giggle so hard his shoulder pads shook. It was the same kind of unusual play on which Robert Lang had scored the Caps' first goal in Washington's first-round playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Now, it looks like a set play. "Nah, not a set play," Caps coach Bruce Cassidy said and then paused.

WASHINGTON - Peter Bondra's skate slipped as he was about to leap in jubilation last night, but it didn't curtail his celebration, as the Washington Capitals wing wrapped himself in the arms of his teammates, rejoicing in his power-play goal that beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 2-1, in overtime. In one of the most intense games of the season, the Caps rallied in the third period on Robert Lang's goal to overcome a goal their goalie believed was illegal and beat a team ranked above them in the NHL standings for the first time since Dec. 27. Part of the payoff was two points in the standings to stretch their Southeast Division lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning to three points with 11 games to play.

WASHINGTON - The Washington Capitals turned into philosophers last night after letting a point escape in a game in which they outplayed the Phoenix Coyotes from start to finish - or almost to the finish. The Caps took a second-period lead on a 5-on-3 power-play goal by Sergei Gonchar and held it until about seven minutes into the third period, before Ladislav Nagy tied the game and Tony Amonte, who was playing in his 900th career game, won it 1:20 into overtime, beating Caps goalie Olie Kolzig (12 saves)