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Caps Throw Cold Water On NHL's Hottest Team
Viktor Kozlov, left, celebrates with teammate Alex Ovechkin after scoring in the second period. Ovechkin assisted on the goal.
(Chris Wattie - Reuters)
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And they did it without wingers Chris Clark (lacerated left ear) and Alexander Semin (sprained right ankle), both of whom were out again.
Although the Capitals didn't score their first goal until the midway through the second period, they actually won the game much earlier.
Kolzig thwarted a glorious scoring chance right off the opening faceoff, making a sprawling save on Chris Kelly, who had raced right down the center of the ice.
Then, early in the second period, the Senators were awarded a 63-second five-on-three power play. Kolzig, though, sent them away empty-handed, making perhaps his biggest save of the game with his glove on Daniel Alfredsson. Penalty-kill specialists Dave Steckel and Boyd Gordon also shined, disrupting the Senators.
Moments later, Kozlov put the Capitals ahead. The hulking Russian danced the puck between Randy Robitaille and Wade Redden and beat Emery over his shoulder at 12 minutes 10 seconds.
Backstrom then earned his milestone, ending a 15-game drought at 14:27 on the power play. The play began with Kozlov attempting a wrap-around. Emery stuffed him, but the puck bounced up and over Emery. Backstrom, in a scramble in the crease, jammed it out of midair and past the unsuspecting goalie to make the score 2-0.
"I touched something, and I think it was the puck," said Backstrom, who has been at his best since being moved to center, his natural position, this week.
The home crowd of 19,666 grew restless, but the Capitals continued to pressure the Senators.
That diligence paid off at 17:55, when Fleischmann took a long pass from Kozlov, then raced into the zone unimpeded. By the time the Senators' Luke Richardson came over, the Capitals winger had unleashed a perfectly-placed wrist shot past Emery's blocker pad.
Fifty-four seconds later Alfredsson finally beat Kolzig, finishing a pretty cross-ice pass from Mike Fisher to make it 3-1.
Ovechkin put the game out of reach with his 10th goal with 3:45 remaining, beating Emery between the pads on a two-on-one with Brooks Laich.
"It was just a great, great effort all around," Kolzig said.
Capitals Notes: Senators' No. 1 defenseman Anton Volchenkov left the game early in the first period after suffering a bruised right thigh. Steve Eminger, John Erskine and Brian Sutherby were healthy scratches. Ottawa center Jason Spezza missed his fifth consecutive game with a strained groin muscle.
