Gordon notched his first goal in over a year – Jan. 1, 2009. It was well earned, too, by the entire fourth line. David Steckel, fresh off a new contract extension, spun and flipped the puck towards Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire. Matt Bradley chipped at it and Gordon pushed the rebound in from his knees – taking a shot from Ottawa’s Shean Donavan in the process.

“It’s been kind of an up-and-down year for me,” said Gordon, who returned Dec. 28 from a second stint on injured reserve. “But it’s kind of like starting the season again right now. I’m getting more and more comfortable.”

Gordon has dealt with back issues for years. He played in the first six games of the season before the injury flared up during an Oct. 12 game against New Jersey. Gordon sat out a month and returned for all of eight shifts in a rematch against the Devils on Nov. 14. He’s missed 33 games total, but is feeling better after finding a specialist, who put together a revamped exercise program.

Gordon’s goalless stretch lasted 36 games in all. And while he scored just five times in 2008-09, that New Year’s Day tally against Tampa Bay was the end of a hot streak – four goals in eight games. Of course, Gordon’s never been a stat warrior. The longest-tenured Caps player has twice scored seven goals and had a career-high 29 points in 2006-07. But he’s one of the team’s top penalty-killers and among the best faceoff men. Still, every player wants to contribute with some honest-to-goodness goals and assists. Now he has.

“You have no idea unless you’ve played the game how big a relief it is to score a goal when you haven’t scored,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “It’s a tremendous feeling. [Gordon] works so hard and gets so little credit sometimes that it’s really nice to see him score a goal and feel good about himself.”

He wasn’t the only one. Theodore played for just the second time in eight games and won for the first time since Dec. 15. Even with rookie Semyon Varlamov on the shelf since Dec. 7 with groin and knee injuries, Theodore has lost playing time to another rookie – Michal Neuvirth. A ragged performance Dec. 28 in a 6-3 home loss to Carolina – the worst team in the Eastern Conference – didn’t help.

But a few days of hard work with goalie coach Arturs Irbe made a difference. And Boudreau conducted an intense practice on Wednesday that focused on shots and rebounds – perfect for a goalie desperate to get his timing back.

“It was up to me to show that I was prepared,” Theodore said. “I think tonight the work that we did with [Irbe] paid off and it’s up to me now to keep going. There’s a lot of hockey left. It’s time to get in rhythm and get on a roll here.”

It remains to be seen if he’ll get that chance over the weekend. The Caps head to Atlanta after Friday morning’s practice and have a game against the Thrashers on Saturday night. The road trip continues at Southeast Division rivals Tampa Bay (Tuesday) and Florida (Wednesday). At the least, Theodore is certain to play in one of those games.

“If [Theodore] had any luck today he should have had a shutout,” Boudreau said. “You can tell he’s solid when he’s controlling his rebounds and he really controlled them tonight. So I’m happy for him and hope that gets his confidence going. Because when [Varlamov] comes back that’s three good goalies.”