Early Hat Trick Sinks Capitals
Hurricanes 5, Capitals 0

By Tarik El-Bashir
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 6, 2007

RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 5 -- The Carolina Hurricanes brought a league-best 53 goals into Monday night's game, and it took them mere moments to blow the Washington Capitals out of RBC Center with that vaunted attack.

With the game barely 12 minutes old, the fans already were tossing hats onto the ice to salute Cory Stillman, whose fourth career hat trick spurred the Southeast Division leaders' rout of the reeling Capitals.

The 5-0 defeat was Washington's third in a row, ninth in 11 games, and it opened a critical road trip in the worst imaginable manner -- with the team's most lopsided loss this season.

"It's very, very disappointing to start this way," Coach Glen Hanlon said. "We don't have the luxury to get discouraged. We can be disappointed, but we can't be discouraged."

After a quick glance at the score sheet, though, it's tough not to be. The Capitals took two penalties in the opening seven minutes -- and Stillman made them pay both times. They fired 35 shots on Carolina's Cam Ward but came up empty for the second time in three games.

It's been the same recurring issues nearly all season for the Capitals, who continue to struggle offensively (two goals in the past 193 minutes 43 seconds) and can't stop taking undisciplined penalties (18 total the past two games, including a boarding major and a game misconduct for Donald Brashear against the Hurricanes).

"They got two power-play goals quick, and that puts a lot of pressure on us to score, which is something we haven't been doing," defenseman Shaone Morrisonn said. "We just weren't disciplined again, not just the penalties, the whole thing."

Matt Pettinger added: "Obviously, without overstating the obvious, we need to score some goals. Losing is never fun, but we need to right this ship right away. You get too far behind the eight-ball, it's tough to come back in this league.

"We've got a tough game [Tuesday] night in Atlanta, then we're going to play the league-leading Senators. So it's not going to get any easier from here."

After taking a penalty less than two minutes into Monday's game, and nearly costing Carolina an early goal against, Stillman made up for his miscue, and then some.

The 33-year-old's hat trick was the second fastest in club history and basically put the game out of reach just past the midpoint of the opening period. Splendid performances by Eric Staal (two goals) and Ward just added insult to the injured Capitals, who were again without Chris Clark (lacerated ear), Alexander Semin (sprained ankle) and Tom Poti (strained groin muscle).

Poti is the only one of the injured Capitals even with the team at the moment, though it's unclear whether he will be able to play against the Thrashers.

Clark could join the team at some point this week; Semin isn't likely to play before next week.

With or without those key players, many Capitals said afterward that being shorthanded is still no excuse for what happened.

"It's unacceptable to be dealing with this," Morrisonn said. "Something's got to change or we're not going to be able to compete."

Stillman's first tally marked the fourth time in the past six games that the Capitals surrendered a goal on their opponent's first shot.

Stillman's second goal came at 7:14 after a slick pass from Ray Whitney. Stillman split the Capitals' defense and faked Olie Kolzig, depositing the puck behind the beaten goaltender.

Stillman completed his milestone performance at 11:28 after banging in a perfect pass from Erik Cole, eliciting a shower of hats from the seats.

Staal's 10th goal of the season came with Brashear in the locker room, sent off after a five-minute boarding infraction for checking Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg between the shoulder blades and into the glass, opening a gash over his right eye.

Kolzig (19 saves) gave way to Brent Johnson (nine) early in the third period.

"Three power-play goals against, it took away some of our momentum," Hanlon said. "I thought we had a good start to the game, but we had a miscue on the first power-play goal, on the second, the forward has a bad read, and they end up with a breakaway. The penalties really set us back."

Capitals Notes: Alex Ovechkin hit Pettinger on the side of the helmet with a wrist shot during a second-period power play. Pettinger, who escaped with only bruised cheek, was far more fortunate than Clark was. He was hit on the left ear by an Ovechkin slap shot 11 days ago and hasn't played since.