Washington difficult road test for Thrashers

The Thrashers play Wednesday at Washington’s Verizon Center, one of two NHL arenas where the road team is winless this season. (The other is San Jose’s HP Pavilion.) The Capitals are 7-0-1 at home this season and have outscored opponents 28-15 at home. Nicklas Backstrom has points in nine consecutive games, the longest active streak in the NHL. Alexander Ovechkin has 20 points in November alone, three more than any Thrashers player had all season before Tuesday night’s game. Atlanta beat Washington 7-4 in the season opener.

HOMECOMING: John Anderson faced an emotional test Tuesday night returning to his hometown as the Thrashers’ coach. “I grew up with a Maple Leaf tattooed on my rear end,” Anderson said in the lead-up to the game. “Every Wednesday and Saturday night my whole family would get together and we’d watch the Leafs play. It was like a big event. … There’s certainly a lot of pressure on me.” Anderson wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Four Thrashers players were born in or grew up in Ontario. “My dad loved Toronto, so I liked Toronto as well,” said Jason Williams, born in London. “You always want to play well against the teams you idolized growing up. There’s a little more pressure with friends and family watching you.” Bryan Little grew up in Cambridge, an hour from Toronto. “A bunch of people come and watch,” he said. “They espect you to do something.” Chris Thorburn, born in Sault Ste. Marie, and Todd White, of Kanata, are the team’s other Ontarians.

PUNK ROCKERS: Anderson and Leafs coach Ron Wilson were hazed together as Leafs rookies. “Instead of shaving our heads, they kind of cut pieces out of it, so we looked like the Sex Pistols,” Anderson said. “They called me Johnny Rotten. They called him Sid Vicious. I said hello to Sid today.”