Is Poti now! (Photo credit: Scott Audette)

Saturday was a bad night for the Washington Capitals. In their first game since May, the Caps got topped 6-3 by the Tampa Bay Lightning after a pitiful third period. One Cap, though, had to wait an even longer time between games. For the first time in over two years, Tom Poti stepped on the ice in an NHL game. After suffering a nagging groin injury and a busted pelvis (and before that almost losing an eye) it’s been a slog for Poti to make it back to the NHL. But just 8:25 into the game Poti got back into the action, assisting on Joel Ward’s game-tying tally. It was the 35-year-old defenseman’s first point since December 21, 2010 when he tallied an assist against New Jersey.

Coupled with a goal during his conditioning stint in Hershey (video) it appears Poti has come back as a scoring machine.

“It’s amazing,” Caps assistant goalie coach Olie Kolzig told Ian after Poti’s first game in Hershey. “He looks like he hasn’t missed a beat at all.”

Poti’s presence becomes even more important now that Jack Hillen has gone down with what looked like a shoulder injury, a point Kolzig echoed a week ago.

“Depth is going to be so important this year especially with 50 games in 100 nights,” he said. “You never know who’s going to go down with injury.”

Take a look at video of Poti’s slick, carefully planned helper: