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With the win against the Atlanta Thrashers, the Washington Capitals moved up one notch in the Eastern Conference standings. They're now just three points behind the eighth place Philadelphia Flyers, and five points behind the Southeast Division leading Carolina Hurricanes. The Thrashers are currently the 14th place team in the East, and looked like they're about ready to give up. The Capitals however, looked like they are determined to make the playoffs.
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The Capitals started putting the pressure on early in the first, and they kept it up all night long. That's a pretty good sign that they've learned how to win, and what it's going to take to stay in the running. But, it was Atlanta's Slava Kozlov that scored first. The Thrashers' only goal of the game came right after a hooking penalty on Caps' defenseman Shaone Morrisonn expired. About three minutes later, Washington answered back with a goal that came right after a hooking penalty by Thrashers' forward Mark Recchi expired. Capitals' Viktor Kozlov gained control of the puck behind Atlanta's net. He sent a pass to Alex Ovechkin, who deflected the puck to Brooks Laich. With goalie Kari Lehtonen already down on the ice, Laich sent his wrist shot over Lehtonen's left shoulder for his 18th goal of the season. As usual, the officiating could've been better in this game. But, it wasn't so bad that you would say it even came close to changing the outcome. Late in the first, there was an offside that seemed to be called before any Capitals' skate hit the blue line. With 5.1 seconds left in period one, Ovechkin was called for interference. He had raised both arms to give the referees a clear view of Jim Slater's arm that was wrapped around him. I guess the ref who made the call was confused by Ovie's arm raising, and thought he was trying to confess something. "There...there now, young man. Just step into the box 'n tell me everythin'."
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Just over two minutes into the second period, Brooks Laich got his second goal of the game. Atlanta's rookie defenseman Tobias Enstrom slid toward the goal mouth, strattled the right post and dislodged the net with his crotch (ouwie!). After a totally unnecessary eternity, the video review judge agreed with the official that had immediately signaled that it was in fact a goal. I think the guys reviewing the goal are probably a little sadistic, and they just kept rewinding, so that they could see Enstrom bang into the post over and over again. For his part in the play, Sami Lepisto got his first NHL assist. The Cap's kept up the pressure through the second. Lepisto almost got his first NHL goal, as he rang goal pipe. I sure thought it went in, at first. The goal horn was even sounded for a second. Well, he can save it for a time when it's needed. It was around this point in the game that the ref's missed a few more calls on Atlanta. Mike Green had taken a stick to the face a couple times, and was knocked down without the puck at this point in the game. No whistles on those plays. But, at 14:08 Washington's Donald Brashear got two minutes for interference. Not fare, but it didn't matter. Just 33 seconds after play resumed, the puck was in the back of Atlanta's net, anyway. Sergei Fedorov stripped the puck from a Thrasher and fed it to Matt Cooke. The speedy Cooke zipped down the ice and sent in the shorthanded goal between the pads of Lehtonen, putting the Capitals ahead by two. About a minute later, the Cap's almost got another goal while still on the penalty kill. Sergei Fedorov and Matt Bradley ended up with a 2 on 1 breakaway, but Bradley's wrist shot from 17 feet out didn't get through Lehtonen. Right at the end of the second period, Atlanta's Ilia Kovalchuck tried to get his team fired up by trying to pick a fight. Turns out, he was just wasting his time.
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At 1:03 into the third period, former Cap Ken Klee put Washington back on the power play with a hooking call. At 1:07, Alex Ovechkin scored the Caps' fourth goal of the game, right off the draw. Fedorov won the faceoff, sending the puck to Green. Mike got the puck to Ovechkin, who immediately put it in net for his 57th goal of the season. A very pissed off Kari Lehtonen, slammed both his fists into his pads. A little while later, Ovie rang one off the post with a very hard shot. Washington was leading by three goals, but it's a bad idea to be satisfied with that. In the end, it was plenty this time.
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Washington outshot Atlanta 37 to 12 in this game. Olie Kolzig had to feel pretty lonely in front of his net. If the Thrashers didn't have such an amazing goalie as Lehtonen guarding their net, they could easily have lost by twice as much. Between Eric Perrin's wrister at 6:44 in the first and Joel Kwiatkowski's wrist shot at 4:55 in the second period, Atlanta went 18:11 without recording a shot on goal. That's not going to put you on the road to the Stanley Cup. Both, Atlanta's offense and defense let them down in this game. The Capitals however, got a very good performance from their entire team. We've every reason to believe that Washington is a serious contender.
All Photos - Nick Wass / AP
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