Pivonka

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Within 24 hours, the goals were gone.In the second game of the Washington Capitals' weekend against teams at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, their offense evaporated in a 4-1 loss to the Hartford Whalers before 9,747 last night at the Civic Center.Coming off an 11-2 victory Friday over the worst team in the conference (Ottawa, with 17 points), the Capitals could have carried their biggest offensive output of the season over against the conference's second-worst team.

VS. PHIL. FLYERS* WHEN: Tonight, 7:35.* WHERE: Capital Centre.* TV & RADIO: HTS and WCAO-AM 600.* OUTLOOK: The Caps (17-15) are expected to be without their two top scorers tonight as Michal Pivonka (31 points) has a sore knee and Kevin Hatcher (33 points) has the flu. Neil Sheehy, Alan May, Dave Tipett, Jim Hrivnak and Peter Zezel also remain out. Yesterday the team called up defenseman Ken Lovsin from the Skipjacks to take Hatcher's spot. The Caps lost Saturday in New Jersey but have won seven of their last 10. The Flyers (18-13-2)

Opponent: New York IslandersSite: USAir Arena, LandoverTime: 7:35TV: HTSRadio: WMAL (630 AM)Tickets: 4,000 availableOutlook: The Capitals need a victory to stay ahead of the Florida Panthers and hurt the Islanders' playoff hopes. Washington is trying to rebound off a 6-4 loss to Boston in which the Bruins scored three short-handed goals. The Islanders have lost two straight. The Caps hope to have D Kevin Hatcher (flu) and C Michal Pivonka (concussion) back tonight. G Rick Tabaracci (knee)

The Washington Capitals opened practice yesterday with unabated optimism and dreams of success in the NHL, even though they are again in the position of hoping for more offense and have not yet signed Peter Bondra, who led the Caps and the league in goal scoring last season.The Capitals have 53 players on their opening roster. General manager David Poile said yesterday he has not spoken to Bondra's agent, Rich Winter, since before the draft in July. He said Winter has asked for a number of things from the Capitals before negotiations begin.

LANDOVER -- The Washington Capitals worked hard for everything they got, but all they got was a 3-3 tie after a strong effort against the Vancouver Canucks.The tie ends a two-game losing streak for Washington, but now the Capitals have something else to worry about:Power plays missed.Washington is at 0-for-18 and counting as it failed to convert six of them last night, including one that gave it an extra-man advantage for a full three minutes in overtime."Overall, I thought we played real well," said Capitals coach Terry Murray.

Q: Are there many former Baltimore Skipjacks playing in the National Hockey League?Michael OrloffColumbiaA: "Many" is a relative term, Mike. According to Margaret Robinson, director of public relations for the Skipjacks, there are 26 former Skipjacks, from their Penguins and Capitals farm-team days, in the NHL. That's enough to start your own team (which could probably beat the San Jose Sharks).Alphabetically, here they are: Dave Barr, Don Beaupre, Tim Bergland, Phil Bourque, Andy Brickley, Rod Buskas, Jon Casey, Yvon Corriveau, Alain Cote, Shawn Cronin, Chris Dahlquist, Larry DePalma, John Druce, Bob Errey, Jeff Greenlaw, Steve Guenette, Dave Hannan, Randy Hillier, Dimitri Khristich, Nick Kypreos, Troy Loney, Bob Mason, Michal Pivonka, Doug Shedden, Rich Sutter and Jim Thomson.