Capitals 2, Bruins 1
By Tarik El-Bashir
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 17, 2008
Alexander Semin and Viktor Kozlov each scored pretty shootout goals to clinch the Washington Capitals' critical 2-1 victory over the Boston Bruins yesterday.
The first star of the game, however, was awarded to goaltender Cristobal Huet, and deservedly so.
Huet stopped 39 shots, including 17 during a frantic third period, to ensure Washington got to extra time -- and a little bit closer to a playoff berth, too.
The victory was the Capitals' third straight and pulled them within two points of the reeling Philadelphia Flyers for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, and five points of Carolina for the Southeast Division lead with nine games left to play. The Flyers dropped their fourth straight yesterday, falling in Pittsburgh, 7-1, while Carolina beat Ottawa, 5-1, at home.
"Like I always said, coaches hate the shootout when you lose, and it's okay when you win," Coach Bruce Boudreau said. "The main thing is we got the two points. They knew if they had beaten us, with us getting nothing, they would have eliminated us from catching them. That was their goal."
And if not for Huet's heroics in the final minutes of regulation, the Bruins, playing for the second consecutive day and again without injured all-star defenseman Zdeno Chara, might have achieved that goal.
"Huet came up huge for us on a few saves, and in overtime and the shootout, he was outstanding for us tonight," said Sergei Fedorov, who scored his first goal as a Capital on the power play in the first period. "He gave us a chance to get that extra point."
Huet, who is 3-2-0 with a 1.68 goals against average and .940 save percentage since being acquired at last month's trade deadline, was at his best midway through the third period, just as the Capitals began to sputter and the tight-checking Bruins cranked up the pressure, turning back Marc Savard and Glen Murray on consecutive trips down the ice.
In overtime, Capitals defenseman Mike Green had the game on his stick, but he fired a wrist shot off of Alex Auld's shoulder from in close.
In the shootout, though, Semin and Kozlov came through to help the Capitals improve to 3-4 in games decided in penalty shots this season.
Semin raced down the slot, slammed on the brakes at the bottom of the slot before snapping the puck over Auld, who stopped Alex Ovechkin before Kozlov clinched it. Kozlov patiently stick-handed down the slot, waiting for a hole to open. When it did, he snapped the puck between Auld's pads, kicking off a celebration on the ice and in the sold-out arena.
Ovechkin, the NHL's leading scorer with 57 goals and 99 points, was stifled in regulation and then fell to 1 for 4 this season in shootouts, and 9 for 32 in his career.
"I didn't start the season very good in shootouts, but the last two or three have worked for me," said Huet, who stopped Chuck Kobasew's attempt. "It's good that we have some good players who can put the puck in the net."
The win completed a 3-1 homestand for the Capitals, who play their next six games away from Verizon Center, which is set to host two rounds of the NCAA men's basketball tournament and the circus. The road trip begins Tuesday in Nashville.
The Capitals emerged from an up-tempo first period with a 1-0 lead thanks to Fedorov's goal, his first since Feb. 21 (as a member of the Columbus Blue Jackets).
With Washington employing five forwards on the five-on-three power play, Fedorov wound up and fired from the top of the circle. His shot nicked Dennis Wideman's shin pad before eluding Auld at 18 minutes 42 seconds.
In the opening minutes of the second period, the Capitals appeared to be on the verge of seizing control until they wound up in penalty trouble -- again.
Milan Jurcina served a minor penalty for interference, then as the hulking defenseman skated from the penalty box to the bench, he whacked Wideman across the face, earning a double minor for high sticking.
Kobasew took advantage, firing in a cross-ice pass from Milan Lucic past Huet's blocker on the rush at 10:13 to pull the Bruins even at 1-1.
"My stick bounced off his stick, but I don't think I got him on the face," Jurcina said. "I didn't feel it."
Although the penalty seemed to temporarily distract the Capitals, they managed to kill off the second half of Jurcina's ill-advised infraction, the win making it a moot point.
"Sometimes you've got a young team and they know so much is on the line and you're afraid to make a mistake," Boudreau said. "It looked like we were afraid to make a mistake rather than just saying, 'Let's go get 'em' and playing the way we can.' "
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