-----------------------------
Ottawa 2 3 0--5
Washington 1 1 4--6
-----------------------------
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Washington, Sacco 6 (Reekie), 2:52. 2,
Ottawa, Yashin 32 (power play) (Redden, Hossa), 7:07. 3, Ottawa, Hossa 28
(Mceachern, Persson), 19:00. Penalties: Bulis, Was (tripping), 5:51; C
Johansson, Was (roughing), 6:14; Mceachern, Ott (charging), 6:41; Bondra,
Was (holding), 8:17; Alfredsson, Ott (high sticking), 15:04; Phillips, Ott
(roughing), 15:48; Zednik, Was (roughing), 15:48.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Ottawa, Hossa 29 (power play) (Salo,
Havlat), 5:35. 5, Ottawa, Mceachern 28 (Fisher, Phillips), 6:37. 6,
Washington, Bondra 41 (power play) (Metropolit, Oates), 13:41. 7, Ottawa,
Bonk 22 (power play) (Salo, Alfredsson), 17:38. Penalties: Konowalchuk,
Was (interference), 4:53; Mceachern, Ott (high sticking), 13:15;
Metropolit, Was ( double high sticking minor), 14:10.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 8, Washington, Nikolishin 11 (Bulis, Gonchar),
6:22. 9, Washington, Whitfield 2 (Black, Sacco), 13:19. 10, Washington,
Gonchar 17 (Oates, Cote), 14:54. 11, Washington, Konowalchuk 20 (Oates,
Dahlen), 18:32. Penalties: Yashin, Ott (hooking), 10:39.
Shots on goal:
---------------------------------
Ottawa 15 11 8--34
Washington 12 10 14--36
---------------------------------
Power-play Conversions: Ott - 3 of 6, Was - 1 of 4. Goalies: Ottawa,
Lalime (36 shots, 30 saves; record: 29-17-4). Washington, Kolzig (26, 21),
Hirsch (start of 3rd, 8, 8; record: 1-0-0). A:18,672. Referees: Fraser,
Jackson. Linesmen: S Provost, Racicot.
INDIVIDUAL PLAYER STATISTICS
Ottawa Washington
G A +/- Shots G A +/- Shots
Alfredsson 0 1 even 0 Black 0 1 even 0
Arvedson 0 0 -1 0 Bondra 1 0 -1 4
Bonk 1 0 -1 1 Bulis 0 1 even 1
Dackell 0 0 -1 2 C Johansson 0 0 even 1
Fisher 0 1 -1 1 Cote 0 1 +3 2
Havlat 0 1 even 3 Dahlen 0 1 +2 1
Hossa 2 1 even 8 Gonchar 1 1 +1 7
Lacroix 0 0 -2 1 Halpern 0 0 even 0
Mceachern 1 1 even 3 Konowalchuk 1 0 +2 5
Persson 0 1 -1 1 Metropolit 0 1 +1 1
Phillips 0 1 -1 0 Nikolishin 1 0 even 2
Rachunek 0 0 -1 0 Oates 0 3 +1 0
Redden 0 1 -1 5 Reekie 0 1 +1 0
Roy 0 0 -1 0 Sacco 1 1 +2 3
Salo 0 2 even 3 Whitfield 1 0 +2 2
Yashin 1 0 -1 4 Witt 0 0 +1 1
York 0 0 -2 2 Zednik 0 0 even 5
Zamuner 0 0 -1 0 Zettler 0 0 even 1
Rivers Healthy Klee Concussion
Khristich Foot Injury
Simon Shoulder
Myhres Healthy
Game Story
WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Ottawa Senators were one period away
from erasing the memory of a bad loss. Then they collapsed.
Steve Konowalchuk scored with 88 seconds remaining to cap a
four-goal third period as the Washington Capitals pulled out a
stunning 6-5 victory over the sputtering Senators in a battle of
Eastern Conference division leaders.
Coming off Saturday's 3-2 home loss to the struggling New York
Rangers, Ottawa built a 5-2 lead after two periods as Marian
Hossa scored twice. The Senators chased goaltender Olaf Kolzig,
but Washington rallied in front of Corey Hirsch, who was making
his first NHL appearance in more than two years.
Andrei Nikolishin started the Capitals' comeback at 6:22 of the
third period, but Washington still trailed 5-3 with less than
seven minutes to play.
Rookie Trent Whitfield made things interesting at 13:19,
flipping in a rebound after goalie Patrick Lalime stopped James
Black's wraparound attempt. That brought the MCI Center crowd
to life and the building erupted 95 seconds later, when Sergei
Gonchar took a pass from Adam Oates at the top of the slot and
slapped a shot inside the left goalpost for his 17th goal.
Fans tossed thousands of free caps onto the ice, prompting a
delay of several minutes. But it did nothing to halt the
Capitals' momentum.
Konowalchuk finished off the Senators at 18:32. Oates had the
puck in the right faceoff circle and slid a pass down low.
Lalime stopped the first shot, but Konowalchuk slipped in a
backhander for his 20th goal of the season and third
game-winner.
"It was a great pass by Oatesie and a great play by Ulfie
(Dahlen) to take it out of the boards," Konowalchuk said.
"Whenever Oates has the puck, I'm going to the net because you
know it's either going to come up on my tape or he's going to
shoot."
Washington extended its latest winning streak to five games and
moved 15 points ahead of second-place Carolina in the Southeast
Division.
"Psychologically, it's the biggest win of the year. (I) can't
think of a bigger win," Caps coach Ron Wilson said. "It reminds
me of a win last year against Florida in overtime when we took
over first place."
Hirsch stopped all eight shots he faced for his first victory
since January 10, 1999 as a member of the Vancouver Canucks.
"What did I have to lose?" he asked. "I've been playing in the
minors all year and I came in and I just had fun. Everything
else is a bonus."
The Senators tied a season high with three power-play goals but
have lost three of their last four games (1-2-0-1) and remained
just two points ahead of New Jersey in the race for the top seed
in the Eastern Conference.
"I think it was just a matter of us playing so bad," Ottawa
defenseman Sami Salo said. "After the 10-minute mark in the
third period, they kept coming and coming and we didn't have
anything left. We ran out of gas."
After Joe Sacco opened the scoring for Washington 2:52 into the
first period, the Senators got the next four goals.
Alexei Yashin tied it on the power play at 7:07 and Hossa put
Ottawa in front with a minute to go in the period.
Hossa added his 29th goal 5:35 into the second and red-hot Shawn
McEachern scored 58 seconds later to make it 4-1.
Peter Bondra briefly halted the Senators' momentum with a
power-play goal, his 41st, but Radek Bonk put a short backhander
past Kolzig on the power play at 17:38 to restore Ottawa's
three-goal cushion.
Kolzig, who faced 26 shots, had not allowed more than four goals
in a game since a 5-4 loss at Ottawa on January 18.
Lalime made 30 saves for the Senators, who were 29-1-4 when
leading after two periods before blowing third-period leads
twice in less than 24 hours.
"We made mistakes instead of playing in their end," said coach
Jacques Martin. "We had some chances to score before, but we
didn't get the other goal. Still, when you (lead) 5-2 after two
periods, that should be sufficient. We made mistakes and that's
what cost us the game."