Photo - Rick Stewart / Getty Images
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The Washington Capitals stay only three points behind the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes by beating the Buffalo Sabres last night. The Cap's put in a fine effort. Olie Kolzig was stellar in net for Washington, and Alex Ovechkin scored two more goals. Those two goals make it a career best 54 on the season, two better than in his amazing 2005-2006 rookie season.
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The Capitals' played well defensively, cutting off the Sabres' passing lanes throughout the game. In the first period, that directly led to a few breakaways, including one by forward David Steckel and another by defenseman Jeff Schultz. With about five minutes left in the first, Olie collected a rebound from Buffalo's Derek Roy and dished the puck to Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom took the puck around the back of the net, and sent a long range pass to Ovechkin. Alex grabbed the bouncing puck in the neutral zone and headed up ice to the Sabres' net. Ovie's wrist shot easily went past netminder Ryan Miller, putting the Cap's up 1-0 at 15:21. Kolzig had no problem keeping Buffalo off the board in the remaining minutes of the period.
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Photo - Don Heupel / AP
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Olie Kolzig also kept his head in the second period. Early in the period, it seemed like Buffalo's Daniel Paille had different plans, though. Olie surged out of the crease to make a last second sprawling poke check, as Paille slammed full force into Kolzig's head while losing his balance at the end of his breakaway. I can just imagine coach Boudreau yelling "Shake it off Olie......shake it off". He did shake it off, and showed no ill effects the rest of the game. About 6 1/2 minutes into the period, there was a mysterious (= b^!! s#:t) delayed offside called on the Cap's. The whistle wasn't blown until Miller had control of the puck behind the Sabres' goal. Yeah.....whatever. Thanks to a hooking penalty on Washington's Jeff Schultz, Buffalo went on the power play. With Olie Kolzig fairly well screened by two Cap's defenders and Sabres' Thomas Vanek, Ales Kotalik's wrist shot made it into the net at 7:23. About a minute later, Washington answered back. Ovechkin grabbed the puck away from Steve Bernier at the edge of the offensive zone. You could almost hear the splash as Bernier dove into went down to the ice. Ovie sent the puck back to Viktor Kozlov. Kozzy shuttled it to Nick Backstrom, who put the puck past Miller for his 11th goal of the season. Nickie now leads all NHL rookies with in points with 58, as well as assists with 47. The period ended with the Capitals ahead 2-1.
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In the third period, Kolzig made a few up close saves, including a deflection off of Washington's own defender Milan Jurcina. Just over 13 minutes into the period, Alex Ovechkin drove to the net from the neutral zone. He scored his second goal of the game with a wrister, bringing his total for the season to a new personal best 54 goals. Even some of the Sabres' fans were applauding after the goal. I think other team's fans really enjoy Ovie's celebrations. With just about 3 minutes left in the game, Buffalo thought they had answered back. The crease was very crowded, as the Sabres' were trying to jam the puck through Kolzig. Olie ended up shoved back into the net. They went to video review, but couldn't come up with conclusive video of the puck being all the way across the goal line. Kolzig and the Cap's held on to their two goal lead, for the win.
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Photo - Don Heupel / AP
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It wasn't all good news after the game. Apparently Cap's forward David Steckel suffered a broken finger. But, there was plenty of good news too. Olie Kolzig notched his 299th NHL win. He made 25 saves on 26 shots, with 13 of the stops in the third period alone. Washington finally got a win in Buffalo, a city that hasn't been very kind to them over the past few years. The Cap's offense and defense were both clicking last night. With 14 more games left, Washington already has two points more than they totaled in each of the previous two seasons.
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