Ovechkin Scores, Caps Finally Top Panthers

SUNRISE, Fla., April 15 -- The Florida Panthers are a mediocre team sitting in fourth place in the Southeast Division. Their playoffs hopes are long gone. They give free pizzas to fans when they win. They are fighting to break .500.

They look like a powerhouse to the Washington Capitals.

This season, the Caps have lost to the Panthers in shootouts and blowouts and shutouts. They've lost inexplicably and deservedly so, on Seventh Street in Northwest Washington and next to a giant outlet mall just east of the Everglades. They lost in October, December, January, February and March.

But not in April.

On a night Caps rookie Alex Ovechkin scored his 51st goal to move into a tie for third place on the all-time rookie scoring list, Washington also ended a perplexing run of misfortune, winning for the first time in eight tries against the Panthers, 2-1 in a shootout.

Dainius Zubrus and Matt Pettinger scored in the shootout to propel the Caps to the hard-earned victory that prevented an embarrassing season sweep. Goalie Brent Johnson, meantime, kept all but one shot, by the Panthers' Olli Jokinen, out of the net to preserve the victory.

"We hadn't beaten this team in the last whatever games we played against them," said Zubrus. "It's nice to finally win against a team we weren't doing very good against during the season. . . . A shootout could go either way."

This season's karma seemed to suggest it would go the other way. Washington had already lost twice to Florida in shootouts. Another one would have equaled a dubious record: Only twice in team history have the Caps gone winless in eight games against the same team in one season. In both cases, the futility seemed far more justified than this year's slide against the Panthers.

After going 7-0-1 in 1978-79 against Washington, the Montreal Canadiens went on to win the Stanley Cup. The New York Islanders did the same in 1981-82. The only thing the Panthers are playing for at this point is respectability.

The Capitals, meantime, are playing for points. With two more for Saturday's victory, Washington has 66. Coach Glen Hanlon said he wants victories in the season's last two games to hit 70. Even from last place in the Southeast Division, Saturday's victory looked quite nice to the Caps' coach.

"It was a fun game, lots of action," he said, grinning. "I don't think even our play-by-play guy and color guy [for television] could screw it up."

The Panthers scored first when Joe Nieuwendyk swept behind the goal and pitched the puck to winger Gary Roberts, who had slipped in front of the net. Roberts looked like a man who found a $20 bill in a parking lot; he did not wind up for the shot, but simply redirected it with a gentle swipe of his stick. The Panthers took a 1-0 lead 5 minutes 13 seconds into the second period.

Ovechkin continued his climb in the record books late in the second when he scored on a breakaway pass from Shaone Morrisonn. Ovechkin fooled Panthers goalie Jamie McLennan, wristing a right-handed shot easily into the net at 13:07 and tying the game at 1.

"I know how tough it is on the breakaway," Ovechkin said. "It's like a lottery."

Ovechkin, who on Thursday became the second rookie to score 50 goals and 100 points -- Teemu Selanne did it in 1992-93 -- on Saturday tied Niewendyk for third-most goals by a rookie. With two games left, Ovechkin could tie or overtake Mike Bossy, who scored 53 in 1977-78, but he has no hope of catching Selanne, who tallied 76.

The Caps were outplayed early in overtime but made a run in the last minute. When the Panthers' Roberts was called for hooking with 23 seconds left, Washington had hope of sneaking out of the period with a victory, but failed to get off a shot before the clock expired. Was it fate, again?

Another defeat seemed likely, especially after Ovechkin was denied in the first round of the shootout.

But then Zubrus and Pettinger got to work, and Johnson plugged Washington's net.

"We got some good shooters on this team who can put the puck into the net," Johnson said. "It just comes down to a duel with the goalie, and we pulled it out tonight."