We first learned of Mathieu Perreault’s deep-rooted love affair with playing hockey outdoors when we interviewed him after an outdoor Hershey Bears’ practice last season. Other Capitals share his passion for sure, but few find themselves in Matty’s circumstances late in 2010: recently recalled by the Caps, auditioning game by game for retention with the parent club and wondering, literally day by day, if he’ll be a participant in what is perhaps the biggest game in Capitals’ history — the 2011 Winter Classic at Heinz Field. So we approached MP85 and asked him if he’d share with us a diary of his reflections and emotions about playing hockey outdoors as a youth and potentially being a part of this year’s Winter Classic. Below is Matty’s first diary entry, and we’ll hear from him again this week and after the big game — assuming he’s in it and assuming it doesn’t get rained out.

You can read more of Perreault’s diary entries here and here. Perhaps most compelling in light of last night’s hat trick, however, was Matty’s closing line from the first entry: “This game in Pittsburgh means so much to me. It is day to day for me, but I feel really good about my game. I really think I am going to get there.”

Well, Matty, if making the roster this year showed you “got there,” Tuukku Rask’s climbing goals against average on Tuesday should have cleared any additional doubt. It’s  a great case of Perreault’s hard work bearing more fruit. Sure, his game Tuesday could have been even better, since he took two penalties, one on which Boston scored. But he stepped up when his team needed him.

In the video below you’ll find OFB’s three stars of the Capitals’ 5-3 win, a game where the guys in red showed they could match the reigning Stanley Cup champions even with key offensive players like Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom out of the lineup.

Also, in case you missed the celebration on the jumbotron after Cody Eakin’s goal, it consisted of footage of someone I’ll admit I’ve thought for awhile is Eakin’s long lost twin: Shaun White.  Eakin told OFB after the game that while he didn’t know beforehand that they’d play the Shaun White clips, he’s OK with the comparison.

“He’s got good style and good hair,” Eakin said.

So in Washington this morning we’d sort of like to ask the commissioner: Can we start the NHL playoffs this week?

We are witnessing history each night with each successive Capitals’ victory this October, but more importantly, we are witnessing the successful auditioning of a roster for a durable and successful stay in next spring’s postseason — health permitting. And this isn’t merely because the Capitals are winning every time they lace ‘em up, it’s because of how they are winning.

A club that once upon a time failed because of its preference for perimeter play is today hard-charging the opposition cage, making life miserable there for netminders, and scoring goals in bunches from in tight. You pretty much figured that Troy Brouwer and Mike Knuble and Joel Ward would lunch-pale it in the slot, but this fall so too is Alexander Ovechkin. And Marcus Johansson. And . . . Mathieu Perreault.

When we watch this fall’s Capitals win so well and in such a laudable fashion — heavy on cohesion and work ethic — we meditate a bit on the important traits lacking in the failed clubs of the recent past, and increasingly we are led to conclude: those shortcomings sure appear to have been vanquished. Marcus Johansson has seized the long-vacant second-line center slot, displaying blazing speed, deft finish, and a high degree of overall hockey intelligence. You need your second pivot to deliver production and be a bit of a threat. It’s early still, but the toolbox young Johansson is displaying plausibly suggests 25-goal, 50-point production.

Previous Capitals clubs lacked a reliable no. 1 D pairing with battle-tested experience and pedigree. This Capitals club likely has two of them today. If you’ve followed Comcast’s Alan May on either television or Twitter this month you know that one of Washington’s most astute hockey analysts regards this year’s Mike Green as authentically Norris viable, and not because of his big offensive numbers by themselves. Roman Hamrlik is filling precisely the role the Caps had hoped he would, and proving to be the long-sought-for perfect partner for Green. Dennis Wideman is enjoying the finest start of his NHL career, and he might be the Capitals best all around rearguard. He skates in the team’s third pairing.

Take a look at the balanced minutes nightly being skated by the Capitals’ six rearguards: Green (22:45), Hamrlik (21:21), Carlson (19:47), Alzner (18:28), Wideman (20:06), Schultz (17:29).

And speaking of well-managed minutes, the team captain is clocking in at an average of 18:45 a night; he’s never averaged less than 21 minutes a game in his preceding six NHL seasons. If Bruce Boudreau is able to maintain a moderation of labor among his elite talent all season long the Capitals are likely to enter the postseason next spring with the league’s freshest set of legs.

The power play was moribund much of last season, and futile in the postseason. (Again.) As of last night, it ranked no. 1 in the NHL at 29 percent. Last season I was one among many in media who questioned the wisdom of positioning Alexander Ovechkin on the power play point. This season he’s most often found along the half boards with the extra man units — or in front of the net! — while a bevy of capable blueliners crisply distribute the puck and blast low and hard slappers on goal from the point. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

Capitals playoff clubs in recent years have had quality netminding but something far short of a game-stealer. If Tomas Vokoun’s early work this fall is any indication of what we can expect come spring, the Capitals will be a tough out against any club. Vokoun’s numbers — especially ones subsequent to his debut — are stellar (all told, a 1.80 goals-against, .944 save pct.), but what has drawn my notice most is the technical brilliance with which he plays the position. It doesn’t seem to matter where shots come from on the ice; he seems to have his body consistently squared to the shooter. Pucks hit him in the middle of his frame and pads, rebounds are thereby relatively easily controlled, his blueliners puck possession and breakouts subsequently efficient. And it is certain that Vokoun and his blueliners will become even more comfortable with one another, and of more common understanding with one another, in the months ahead. It’s a beautiful thing to watch.

On the morning of the season opener I overheard general manager George McPhee offer something close to a prediction that his third line of Joel Ward, Brooks Laich, and Jason Chimera would remind folks of one of the team’s all-time best two-way lines: Ulf Dahlen, Jeff Halpern, and Steve Konowalchuk. Prescient forecast, that. No club in the NHL can match the production and two-way impact of the Capitals’ third and fourth lines. It’s rare to see a club skate in fall 12 forwards you hope remain paired without alteration the following spring, but that’s what the Caps appear to have this fall.

This is a terrific time for Washington’s hockey team to be seriously surging, what with the Redskins swooning anew and the Wizards AWOL. Things could get real ice-interesting-re-orienting around here in short order. That would be a beautiful thing to watch.

Camp convened with perhaps only one roster spot genuinely open and available among the top nine forward spots (second line center) (or is it first?). It was pursued by a small assembly of center ice men who came to be known as ‘The Bubble Boys.’  But even with this storyline the drama didn’t build greatly, as Mathieu Perreault emerged early and decisively as the top performer. He led the Caps in scoring during the preseason. And after Sunday night’s camp-concluding exhibition game against Chicago, Bruce Boudreau said of no. 85, “I think our best player all of camp was Perreault. I think he played with energy every night.” On the radio last night, Mike Vogel was similarly impressed: “He’s been consistently good throughout the preseason regardless of which line he’s been on.”

The forward ranks offered this camp its exclusive intrigue, and that was muted drama. On the blueline, the top six were set before camp started, and likewise, the Capitals’ net was set before training camp’s first conditioning whistle blew.

This drama-free state of affairs was by design. In the middle of the offseason the GM overhauled his roster heavily for size and grit and experience up front on the wings, some character and a former captain’s experience and leadership to center the fourth line, and then the ultimate offseason coup — Tomas Vokoun. Offseason changer, that.  Training camp quickly became more a dress rehearsal than an audition.

Camp’s top storylines:

• As important as McPhee’s offseason roster moves were, it was what the GM did at his office keyboard while the wounds of another short postseason were still raw that likely set in motion the business-like tenor of this training camp. At camp’s dawning the Washington Post reported that early in the offseason that Capitals’ players were issued a written warning about changed expectations for fitness for duty come September:

” . . . players received letters early this summer warning them to expect an Albert Haynesworth-like timed fitness test with controlled recovery intervals at the start of camp.’

That was George McPhee the enforcer enforcing a culture change for his hockey club. Overdue, in my opinion. May it be the last time Albert Haynesworth’s name is evoked in connection with the Capitals.

• More on the conditioning/work ethic/maturation front: Ben Raby, writing for the Toronto Star, got captain Ovechkin to concede that his 2010-11 showing wasn’t up to par on a number of fronts. He approached last season looking past its regular season toward the postseason, and sacrificed his conditioning in the process. His owner took note:

“He tried something different,” Caps owner Ted Leonsis said. “He wanted to work his way into shape so that he would peak during the playoffs.”

Indeed, Ovechkin admitted that all year he “just wanted to be ready for the playoffs.

“I was starting, like, in the middle (of the season) to be in shape.”

• Vitally important testimony attesting to the Capitals fall-time fitness arrived at the dawn of training camp, from team strength and conditioning coach Mark Nemish.  “I already know [Ovi's] in shape; I can tell. “We’ve worked several times on the ice and, without a doubt, he’s in the best shape I’ve ever seen him.”

• The kiss or death . . . or well considered wooing?: The Hockey News tabbed the Caps as 2012 Stanley Cup champions.

• The GM sure likes his hockey club. At CapsCon, he told the assembled thousands that this year’s squad reminded him very much of the ’97-’98 club — the one that advanced to the Stanley Cup finals. “It’s going to be a hard team to play against. Maybe not as offensive, but more physical.” Superb coverage of CapsCon from the Examiner’s Michael Hoffman here.

• If the Caps hoped that Vokoun would inspire Michal Neuvirth it appears early on to have worked. Neuvy was especially strong this preseason. There may not be the 60-20 split in games between the two that a lot of folks thought about three weeks ago.

• McPhee also chimed in on realignment, all but stating that 2011-12 would be, mercifully, the final season for the Southeast division. What it’s looking like now: two 15-team conferences with 8- and 7-team divisions within. Apparently a popular plan would see the Capitals reunited with the New York clubs and the Flyers in a division. I say, why go halfway — get the best rivalry in all of hockey, and one of the best in all of sports, rekindled as well. Anyway, when it’s official, OFB I think will host a realignment party in town, where we’ll give away NASCAR posters and coupons for Waffle House. And certainly we’ll have a Gary Bettman pinata.

• Netgate.

• Camp standout: Dmitri Orlov. Still with the team partially because of John Erskine’s rehab, but also because he’s played with poise and impact that belie his years this preseason. Stock seriously on the rise.

• Camp standout, on the air: John Walton. If you haven’t given much thought to following Caps hockey on the radio in recent years, you should now.

• One of the biggest stirs in camp perhaps came with the team in Chicago for a game, and when red, white, and blue old timers returned to Kettler for the organization’s first-ever alumni game. Old timers Alan May and Kevin Kaminski drew blood from dropped gloves. I got a good chuckle from learning that Killer had earned the first-ever Alumni Game’s first-ever first star of the game designation.

• Don’t overlook this sidebar to the new season: the trading of Semyon Varlamov delivered to the Caps Colorado’s first-rounder next June. McPhee really likes the ’12 draft — it’s much stronger than this past June’s, he intimated at CapsCon. You might want to take a look at where Adam Proteau has the ‘Lanche finishing out West this season.

What might this season’s lines look like?

Ovi – Backstrom – Brouwer

Semin – MJ90/Perreault – Knuble

Chimera – Laich – Ward

Hendricks – Halpern – Beagle

Love those third and fourth lines.

Some notes on the final game and where it takes the Capitals going into the regular season:

–Boudreau said overall he felt the game was ‘pretty sloppy.’ The power play, after a solid performance Monday, certainly seemed to regress, with the Capitals going 1-6 on Sunday and the one tally coming on a 2-man advantage. We’ll see what adjustments the team makes (if any) before Saturday. “We didn’t play like Stanley Cup champions all preseason,” Boudreau said after Sunday’s game, but added, “We got through it.  I think they’re in shape, they’re game- ready, and we don’t have any major injuries or suspensions.”

–Brooks Laich tried his hand at center between Jason Chimera and Joel Ward on Sunday. Laich got a goal early in the game with Ward and Chimera assisting, though Laich followed it up with a penalty that gave Chicago exchanged for a goal on its power play opportunity. Laich finished+2; his linemates finished +1. Laich also had a 69% faceoff percentage and took 16 total, five more than Nicklas Backstrom. Overall, Laich seemed comfortable, although Boudreau had a longer answer as to whether this is the strongest Laich has looked in the preseason: “I would say this game…I thought he played pretty good in the last game against Buffalo, but you could see he was starting to ramp it up. Definitely better than the first two that he played.”

–Out of all the buzz surrounding weight, conditioning, and who really cares about playing well, it’s beyond a doubt clear that Michal Neuvirth, the guy who innocently suffered the biggest loss over the summer – a starting job—came ready to play. Monday and Sunday, he was a brick wall, and let in only one goal per game. Boudreau was so pleased that he called Neuvirth a “number 1A” goalie on the roster and said he’d be playing a lot of hockey this season. Tomas Vokoun is still the undisputed #1, though, according to the coach.

–Saving the best for last: watching guys crack the NHL roster thanks to stellar training camp and preseason performances is always exciting, and this year’s two most likely candidates didn’t disappoint. Jay Beagle topped off  a hardworking preseason with this tally Sunday in which, despite it being an empty netter, he had to fight for ice every stride he took.

But the real hero of the preseason was Mathieu Perreault, who finished with 5 points, tied for highest on the team with Troy Brouwer. It’s not secret that Perreault has been on OFB’s radar for awhile, and to  hear the hardworking centerman get called by Boudreau the “best player” in camp is definitely a welcome  quote to add to OFB pixels.  Perreault missed out on a regular roster spot last season in part due to the emergence of rookie Marcus Johansson, who spent much of this preseason playing on the top line between Alex Ovechkin and Troy Brouwer. Ironically, Boudreau ended up moving Perreault to that position at one point in Sunday’s game, explaining afterwards, “He was creating things … so we wanted to see if Matty could handle playing with those guys, ’cause sometimes it’s intimidating.” Boudreau said the key for Perreault is still finding consistency. It’s looking more and more like he will find it as a full-fledged member of the Capitals this season.

There are old school discomforts with skates like this past Friday’s — Bears’ players, for instance, must carry off all preparations for practice at Giant Center, hop in their cars already geared up, and drive over to the old barn. But there’s something old school endearing about the sight of contemporary pro hockey players moving about a park in theirs pads and practice sweaters, largely emptied gear bags slung over their shoulders, sticks in hand.

One of HPA’s many charms is the accessibility Hershey hockey fans have to Bears’ players after practice. Fans coming into the arena to get their skates sharpened share arena hallways with the pros. In the primary entrance to the arena fans can and do wait with sweaters and photos for player signatures, and can walk alongside the pros as they make their way from the dressing room out to their cars. One fan on Friday brought along one of Mathieu Perreault’s Caps’ sweaters for signing, and if I heard correctly, claimed it came from the game in which Matty broke his nose. Of course the young center signed and posed for pictures with the fan.

This hockey landmark, lamentably, is unfit to host high-level hockey in the present. It can’t really host much of anything that might draw a big crowd. The building’s simply not to today’s fire and safety codes. The Bears can practice at HPA, they can devote some days of fall training camp there, but there are no more full-scale athletic events held there. Lebanon Valley College still plays its home games there, however. But every hockey fan I think ought to make at least one pilgrimage up to HPA for a Bears’ skate, or a Sunday afternoon public skating session in fall and winter, and behold the vantages of this mecca’s super steeply pitched seats — every seat in this home for hockey is situated right on top of the action.

Old wood benches are occasionally used by today's Bears' players to dull a bit of a skate's edge judged a bit too sharp

I'm sure most high school locker rooms in central Pennsylvania offer more amenities and comforts than does the home team's in HPA. But when I observed Bears' players lacing up their skates Friday there was nothing but smiles and the usual pre-practice banter enveloping this primitive dressing room.

Practice drills and rituals are no different in HPA than at Giant Center. But the spectator feels time-capsuled back into another era altogether.

Mathieu Perreault was all obliging for a fan who arrived at practice bearing one of his Capitals' sweaters.

After practice Friday Bears' radio voice John Walton gave Ben Raby and me a personalized tour of HPA, including this stop at the oh so primitive broadcast booth used by visiting teams' announcers years ago. Before Walton's work in Hershey, he also called games for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL. "I think we won three of eighteen games here," he told me Friday. To enter and exit this remarkable broadcast pen, announcers literally had to step onto armrests of adjoining seats. "But you had the best view in the AHL here," Walton noted.

How could you not fall hard for this kid?

With the trade of Mike Fischer to Nashville yesterday and the lack of significant salary cap space, it is becoming clear that Washington’s center of the future is most likely on the current roster. A closer inspection shows Perreault and Johansson are the front-runners for the job. The problem is they just have to play consistently good hockey to earn the job, and young, inexperienced players seldom do that.

From just one conversation with them it is easy to see both players are working on virtually the same things and have had to focus on similar concepts. Following the last home game before the All-Star Break against the New York Rangers, both Perreault and Johansson were presented with the same question; “What are you looking at working on over the break?”

“I don’t know, everything still,” Johansson said, wiping his soaked hair from his face. “It’s a pretty good league.”

Just from the tone of his voice, it was clear the young Swede struggled at times being a little overwhelmed in his new surroundings. It is not surprising, either, as the 20-year-old pivot only played two full years in the Swedish Elite League before moving over to the NHL this year. With so much to learn about North American hockey and the pressure from a fanbase with high expectations partially on his shoulders, Johansson certainly has an excuse for feeling under pressure. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the locker room, Perreault’s much different experience with professional hockey effects how he looked to improve.

“I don’t know, I might go down to Hershey and play some games,” Matty told us of his All-Star break plans, which proved prophetic.

Perreault’s two full years of experience in the American Hockey League with the Hershey Bears clearly shaped his response to the All-Star break. While it seems he knows he has things to work on, the prospect of going down to the minors presents an opportunity to hone his skills in real-game situations. While many players would be disappointed by the idea of getting sent down, it seemed as if Perreault embraces the opportunity to improve.

Despite both Perreault and Johansson’s struggles with their size disadvantage, NHL inexperience, and ability to play consistently, their post-break play couldn’t be any different. In the four games since the break Perreault has one goal and three assists, while Johansson has just one point — a goal against the Penguins.

Going into the break both Johansson and Perreault were struggling and needed to set themselves up for success in the second half. They were also aware that fans and management have identified the team’s second-line center position as one of ongoing vulnerability. After facing the fact he needed to improve and getting sent down to Hershey, Perreault came back fighting. In fact, he has made a habit of doing just that the last two years.

“It’s not that I play any harder or better when I get called up; bounces are just going my way,” Perreault said with a wide smile upon being asked if going down to Hershey and coming back up energizes his play. “I am just throwing the puck on net and bounces go in.”

Marcus Johansson

What is fascinating about Perreault’s analysis of his play is that by trying to “just put the puck on net,” he is playing infinitely better. Especially with a team like the Caps, who do not crash the net often enough, Perreault’s ability to do that makes him a valuable addition to the team. Putting the puck on net leads to scoring chances, and inevitably goals.

For Perreault, confidence is key. While throwing the puck on net seems like such an insignificant thing to do, it can lead to some solid chances to boost his own opinion of his play. That same confidence is something Johansson believes he needs to build up to play better.

“I’m not playing that well lately, the last three or four games, and you know I got going in the second period and I got some confidence,” Johansson said after Sunday’s game against the Penguins, in which he scored a shortie on a snazzy backhander through traffic. “You always feel better when you are confident.”

Suddenly these two players are yet again faced with the same situation: building durable confidence at the crucial period of the season when management must decide whether or not to shop for its second-line center. Where do they move on from here though? Johansson has seven goals and six assists for a total of 13 points on the season and Perreault has six goals and six assists for a total of 12 points, Johansson’s production achieved in 42 games, Matty’s in just 28. There is less than half the season left and both young players have the opportunity to set themselves apart and take control of their destiny.

With Perreault and Johansson following such different paths on their journey to the NHL, it is almost impossible to know where either one is going to end up when their career is over. We all know these two are going to have games of struggle and of success. If they continue to improve throughout the season, then the problem may become one for the front office: buy at the trade deadline and decide who among the young pivots sits. Without question, though, the center ice position for the Caps — rightly believed to be a position lacking quality depth — is achieving precisely that this season.

• “It’s like putting a plow on Secretariat” this commenter said of the Caps’ use of their anti-attack trap, and general stylistic jettisoning of what is intrinsic to the roster: speed and skill.

Wish I had thought of that. But I’m not old enough to personally remember Secretariat’s brilliance!

But what a terrific metaphor. It got me thinking: Why in the world would you invest heavily in a stable of able scouts, deploying them 5,000 or 10,000 miles across the globe, to uncover skilled skating gems like Evgeny Kuznetsev, Marcus Johansson, Mathieu Perreault, Cody Eakin, etc., if all you’re gonna do with all that talent is have it sag back in the neutral zone awaiting a counter-attack from a basically stationary position?

What a waste.

George McPhee et al in management want to “copy-cat” the success formulas of preceding Cup winners, few of whom have drafted as well as McPhee and his scouts in recent years. Fine, but don’t bother investing heavily in securing thoroughbreds in the Entry Draft when what’s required of your “copy-cat” system is merely Clydesdales.

Also, be prepared to lower your ticket prices beginning next season — appreciably. Mercifully, only 3 of the Caps’ remaining 31 games are at home against Southeast foes. Imagine marketing this team with this style of play on Tuesday and Thursday nights marching toward spring against a heavy assembly of ‘Talladega Nights’ outposts. The games are already sold out, I know; I would have been curious, however, to see how many ticket holders would have showed up for those affairs the longer this blight of a hockey season remains in place.

The bet here is that the Tampa Bay Lightning are your 2011 Southeast Division winners. Their next road game is February 27. Ten straight at home, while the Caps navigate a February that’s road-intensive and chock full of toughies. Not that this Caps’ club ever has an “easy” evening. By the end of February Tampa ought to have at least a 10-point bulge over the trapping Caps.

The Caps of course won the Southeast last season . . . by 40 points. What do we think of their second-class standing in the Southeast in 2011 when no division rival in the offseason imported Bobby Orr or Wayne Gretzky in their prime?

* * * * *

No matter what system the Capitals deploy, they’re going nowhere without a reliably productive second-line center. And the market for those over the next 30 days is going to be tight. Quite simply: there aren’t enough out-of-the-running clubs with coveted high-end assets. Seeds one through eleven are tightly packed in the East, and out West it’s even more egalitarian: Edmonton alone is truly out of it, at 38 points. I’m confident the Columbus Bluejackets — 14th in the West right now — aren’t going to qualify for the playoffs, but it’s understandable why Jackets’ management is not. They’re therefore unlikely over the next couple of weeks to part with key personnel. I’d kill to have R.J. Umberger centering the Caps’ second line. He’s a big body — and the Caps desperately need to be bigger down the middle — who can skate and score, and he has a notable Eastern conference pedigree of achievement. He wouldn’t be a rental, and his salary ($3.75 million) isn’t out of line for his position and numbers. Umberger would be my dream acquisition. Fairly notable dropoff in production with say Ottawa’s Mike Fisher, but his entourage would bring some buzz to Kettler morning skates.

But then you confront the problem on the right side of the Capitals’ lineup. Mike Knuble hasn’t looked effective all season long; in fact, he’s beginning to look like most 38-year-old hockey players look in this league. Eric Fehr is on the shelf probably another month, but even when he was healthy he underwhelmed this season. Jason Chimera is, by default, skating on the Capitals’ top line. I think the Capitals need to skate the remainder of the season putting all their chips on the top line (8-19-28), try and make Scott Howson an offer he can’t refuse for Umberger — assuming the Jackets tread water the next three weeks — stash Knuble on the second line, and reassemble the best line of training camp: Chimera-Perreault-Fehr on the third unit. Rookie Marcus Johansson’s minutes and duties are going to have to be managed expertly as the season takes on greater significance; I’ve little confidence in the club doing that, given how they’ve handled MJ90 to date. A Hendricks-Johansson-Bradley fourth line could be fun to watch. I’d dress Dave Steckel as an extra forward and let him take defensive zone faceoffs. (I’ve little use for him in five-on-five play anyway.)

Problem is, as constructed, this hypothetical lineup I’ve posited is one that’d actually be interested in attacking with the puck, in skating, in scoring goals. The current Capitals are not.

The team itself showed up big time, in primetime, under the lights and in the rain. Boudreau said following the win that it was more than “just a game” – there was a desire to show people who were completely foreign to the sport how exciting it can be.

Even for the lifetime Caps fan, however, the game delivered excitement. A John Erskine fight, a Capitals comeback goal in the second period from Mike Knuble after the Pens’ Evgeni Malkin scored on a breakaway, holding Sidney Crosby pointless, and unanticipated  superpower from Eric Fehr should all make Capitals fans feel off to a good start in 2011.

Memorable episodes often seem pass by at the speed of light, and the Capitals’ Mathieu Perreault – who, since he’s split time between the Capitals and their AHL affiliate’s rosters this season, had to live with the uncertainty for several months of whether he would be in the Caps’ locker room for the Winter Classic — agreed that this game went by at a faster pace than most.

“Yeah, I think it went by pretty quick,” Perreault said, but added, “I think we enjoyed, really enjoyed our time.”

Perreault also acknowledged the side effects of the rain that came down frequently throughout the game.

“You got to keep things really simple,” Perreault said of playing on that type of ice surface. “You can’t try too much ‘cause [the] puck won’t follow and just bounce everywhere.”

But, in the end, “It bothers me more when I was on the bench than on the ice,” Perreault said.

“You had to sit on the edge of the bench,” Knuble chuckled, explaining that sitting at the back guaranteed a wet seat. He added that the ice actually felt different — indicating for the better — after the second period.

Perreault, still bearing the scars of a broken nose from last Sunday’s game in Carolina, also spent a brief moment down on the ice after an encounter with one of the Penguins’ players left him helmetless and caused a minor nose bleed.

“I think that guy know maybe I had a broken nose, and he’s trying to get my nose, and I was just trying to get out of the way,” said Perreault. In typical hockey-player fashion, however, he dismissed the injury.

“I’m alright,” he said.

If the Capitals showed up tonight, so did their fans. Alex Ovechkin’s postgame comments on the Caps crowd at Heinz Field may not quite be numerically accurate, but, on a road trip that saw its fair share of noticeably awkward demonstrations, the Capitals captain still found the bright side.

“You can hear when we score goals how many people was fans of Washington,” he said. “I can see a thousand people in one spot, a thousand people upstairs, it was really unbelievable. When it was the National Anthem, and they are screaming, like, it was unbelievable.

There’s only one downside to the Capitals’ victory this evening: in a sport known for its superstitions, it’s important to remember that each road team in the Winter Classic made it to the Stanley Cup finals that same year, only to lose.

Perreault, however, is looking at the bright side of the curse and perhaps breaking it.

“We don’t think about it – I mean, all the teams get in the finals, so it’s a good thing, so that means we’re going to get in the finals, maybe, we’ll be the first ones to win,” Perreault said.

One thing’s for sure: we can’t wait to see the next episode of HBO’s 24/7.