This weekend brought more points, more victories, and more milestones to Hershey.  With Saturday's 4-0 win over the Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins and Sunday's 4-2 win over the Adirondack Phantoms, the Bears continued their stellar 2009-2010 season.

The Bears now boast a record of 49-12-0-2, have reached the 100 point mark, clinched a playoff spot, and need only 5 more points to claim the East Division Title... with 5 weeks remaining in the regular season. 

In the 2nd period of Saturday's contest against the Penguins Andrew Gordon and Keith Aucoin both hit the 30-goal mark.  In Sunday's game against Adirondak Boyd Kane hit the 20-goal mark and Bryan Helmer notched his 387th career AHL assist.   Helmer now leads all-time for AHL defensemen with assists. 

Also in Sunday's game?  The Bears broke the overall professional hockey record of 22 consecutive home victories with a win.  The new record is now 23 straight home wins.

Get up close and personal with Jay Beagle and the rest of the Bears, after the jump.

While "Shut-the-door" has been strong, the four offensive Olympians from the Caps roster (Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Tomas Fleischmann, and Nicklas Backstrom) have not netted a goal since returning from Vancouver, and have only mustered 3 assists. Ovie has now gone six straight games without a goal, a season high. While the Capitals aren't too horribly worried, going 3-1-2 during the drought, it'd be nice to see this issue straightened out sooner than later.

With a win tonight, the Caps can add more distance to their Southeast Division lead (30 points), Eastern Conference lead (12 points) and NHL lead (3 points) - while extending a franchise record 13-game home win streak. At 96 points on the season, and 17 games remaining, DC has the 7th most points in their history and 6th most wins (43).

One final note... anyone else notice how the Capitals have followed the Penguins schedule so far coming out of the break? Eerie.

Jose Theodore turned away 30 of New York's shots, and Eric's Fehr and Belanger lit the lamp in the Washington Capitals 2-0 win over the visiting Rangers. The Caps remain unbeaten on this side of the Olympic break, and have now extended their franchise-best home win streak to 13 games, and is 25-3-3 on Verizon Center ice on the season. It wasn't the most exciting game, or the prettiest, but a win is a win and the two points earned still smell the same. Let's look at the tape:

Did Theo's success stem from Green's pregame tip of "Use this to stop the pucks"? Click to find out!

The Hershey Bears began their final push of the regular season Saturday, blanking the Baby Pens 4-0 at home. While the Bears sit comfortably atop the AHL with 96 points – the upcoming schedule is nothing short of grueling. Three games in three nights and 4 games in 5 nights with long bus rides in between are not uncommon for rest of the schedule.

If any Caps fans are trying to get in one last trip to Hershey before the playoffs, here’s my suggestion for a road-trip (which coincidentally, occurs on off-nights for the Capitals):

Friday, March 26^th – Bears & Baby Sharks: The first in the East Division square off against the first in the Atlantic Division in what could be a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Saturday, March 27^th – Bears & Baby Pens: Coupled with the Friday night before this could make a stellar two night stand in Chocolatetown. The Bears and Baby Pens are a strong and passionate rivalry that always makes for a good show.

With the recent departure of Oskar Osala in the Carolina Trade (which means that Friday March 19^th is marked on my calendar for his return to the Giant Center) and Tim Leone’s confirmation that Quintin Laing and Tyler Sloan will not return to Hershey, a lot of questions surround the Bears’ lineup. Will they make a trade before the March 10^th AHL deadline? Will they rely (even more) heavily on the Stingrays to fill holes? Will the arrival of more defensemen in Washington allow Hershey to depend on Karl Alzner and John Carlson through the final 19 games without losing them to call-ups? Only time will tell.

Washington Capitals (43-13-8) vs. New York Rangers (29-27-8)
Verizon Center       
Time: 7:00 pm
TV: Comcast SportsNet
Radio: 820AM, 1500AM, 106.7FM and XM 
Previous Games:
Oct 8, 2009      NYR@WSH     L, 4-3
Nov 17, 2009   WSH@NYR    W, 4-2
Jan 31, 2010    WSH@NYR     W, 6-5 
Remaining Games:
(none)

(A look into Sean Avery's bedroom.)

The New York Rangers head down 95 to face the Washington Capitals for the final matchup this season. In their third game since returning from the Vancouver Olympic break, the Caps will look to extend their franchise-record home win streak to 13 games, while the Rags will try to avenge Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, where they were out shot 55 to 16.. DC is 24-3-3 at the Phone Booth this season, with one of their regulation losses coming at the hands of the Rangers behind Marian Gaborik's two third period goals. Although Gaborik has 35 of the Rangers 167 goals this season, and is 4-2-6 in three games against the Caps this season, there's no saying if he will test his injured groin on the notoriously bad Verizon Center ice. Ryan Callahan has been able to step up in Maid Marion's absence however, netting 4 goals and 2 assists in his last 7 games. He is the Rangers' second leading scorer (17 g), and is second on the club in power play goals (8) - all while being second in the league in hits (246).

Although Alex Ovechkin has been in a bit of a drought lately, he should be able to shake his season long 5-game goal drought this evening, as he has pierced New York for 13 goals and 9 assists in 19 games in his career - and has scored 3 goals in 3 meetings this season. Also, be on the look out from hard skating top to bottom today, as every member of the Caps roster is fighting for ice time following the acquisitions of Eric Belanger, Joe Corvo, and Scott Walker - who nearly doubled his goal production for the entire season while lighting the lamp twice on Thursday against the Lightning.

Sometimes there is an enigma so deep that it overwhelms even the most knowledgeable Capitals hockey fan. And for these questions, we turn to the Great Zamboni - the power that has more answers than Google, and is more reliable than Dave Steckel in the face off circle (if that's even possible). Even Chuck Norris consults the Great Zamboni from time to time, but he won't admit it to anyone.

Today's question for the Great Zamboni comes from Rock The Red reader Stephen V who ponders: "What do you think the caps should do at the goaltender position if all 3 goalies are performing well?"

Don't leave the GZ hanging! Click to find out!

When Eric Fehr of the Washington Capitals put his team up 1-0 over Southeast Division rival Tampa Bay Lightning, the Verizon Center was able to hear a new post-goal song written by the Sandbox Kings as determined by a recent contest. In case you didn't know to look (hear?) for it last night at the Phone Booth, or missed Elliot In The Morning's debut of the song this morning, you can listen to it here. I support the franchise fully in reaching out to the fans to create a song that is original to the Caps, and I've always enjoyed celebration song that feature fan interaction (a la the New York Rangers), but I immediately wonder how the fans feel about the song, and what other alternatives might have been discussed behind closed doors.

Was Richmond's finest a possible candidate? Read On!

Some say lightning won't strike the same place twice, but the same does not apply to the Caps. In the Washington Capital's 5-4 over the Tampa Bay Lightning both Mike Knuble and Scott Walker, whose new car smell has yet to even wear off, each lit the lamp twice in addition to Eric Fehr's first period tally. DC now boasts an 12-game win streak at the Verizon Center, outscoring opponents 49-22 in the span - and have yet to lose at home in 2010.

More from tonight's contest - after the jump.

Many thanks to everyone that crossed their fingers, wore their lucky jersey, and/or performed some voodoo rituals before last nights Capitals-Sabres contest. With the Caps emerging victoriously in their road trip to meet the Sabres last night, we too we're able to celebrate a victory of our own. If you remember, Rock The Red had made a bet with Marty, who writes for the Buffalo blog Double Edged Sabres where whomever won would have control over a mad-lib version of the AP recap.

Click to make the jump, and read the hijinx that ensued: