SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2010 PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL
KLMNO
EZ SU HOCKEY Even with 26 third-period shots, Caps fall capitals from D1
and their opponent at times, al- lowing theBruins to hold themin their own zone. A seemingly harmless shot by
Patrice Bergeron from the right faceoff circle would prove to be anything but as it slipped past Michal Neuvirth for a 1-0 Boston lead 3 minutes 27 seconds into the contest. The extreme territorial advan-
tageheld by theBruins prevented Washington from taking a shot on Thomas until close to eight minutes had elapsed in the game. Almost immediately after the Capitals’ first shot, Andrew Fer- ence gave the Bruins a two-goal cushion when a shot from the point eluded a screened Neu- virth. When a third tally late in the
opening frame by Blake Wheeler made it 3-0 Boston, the Capitals appeared fragile and on the verge of another meltdown. The big-
MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“We’re building. . . .We’ll be good when we play really good, and we’re not there yet,” Seattle Coach Pete Carroll says of 6-7 squad.
AWest-case scenario for theNFC playoffs
Seattle, St. Louis in
position to host game despite poor records
BY MARKMASKE Someone has to win the NFC
West and reach the playoffs, fully deserving or otherwise. On a Sunday filled with big
games across the NFL land- scape — matchups in which both participants have enviable records and are jockeying for postseason positioning—there also are significant games for the two teams that are tied atop the sport’s also-ran division with identical 6-7 records. One co-leader, the St. Louis
Rams, hosts the Kansas City Chiefs. The other, the Seattle Seahawks, plays at home against the
AtlantaFalcons.The best-case scenario for the self- esteem of the NFC West is that either the Rams or Seahawks— or both — will win, and the division leader will have a .500 record at 7-7. But given that the Chiefs and
Falcons lead their own divi- sions, perhaps the more likely outcome is that both the Rams and Seahawks will lose. If that happens,theywouldremainthe co-leaders of the NFC West at 6-8, and the NFL would move a step closer to having a team with a losing record reach the playoffs for the first time ever in a non-strike season. “We’re building. . . . We’ll be
good when we play really good, and we’re not there yet,” Sea- hawks Coach Pete Carroll said at a midweek news conference. “We’re not consistently playing the way that a good team plays, where you don’t hurt yourself and you don’t put yourself in bad situations and give away opportunities to your oppo- nent. We’re still working at that.” The refrain is similar in St.
Louis. “We’ve been a team that we
show up, and some games we play absolutely good football,” Rams running back Steven Jackson said at a news confer- ence during the week, “and some games we come up short.” The Detroit Lions and Cleve-
land Browns reached the play- offs with 4-5 records in the strike-shortened 1982 season. The NFL record book lists 10 teams as reaching the playoffs in full seasons with .500 re- cords. Those around the league
aren’t necessarily begrudging the NFCWest winner its spot in the playoffs. “I believe if you do win your division, you should be in the playoffs,” Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie said at an owners’ meeting Wednesday in FortWorth. There is some consternation,
however, that the NFC West winner will host a first-round postseasongameagainst a wild- card playoff team that presum- ably will have a better record. Falcons President RichMcK-
ay, the co-chairman of theNFL’s competition committee, said at the owners’ meeting that he thinks there should be discus- sion this offseason of a possible re-seeding proposal that, if en-
NFL teams at or under .500 to reach playoffs
2008: Chargers (8-8) 2006: Giants (8-8) 2004: Vikings (8-8) 2004: Rams (8-8) 1999: Cowboys (8-8) 1999: Lions (8-8) 1991: Jets (8-8) 1990: Saints (8-8) 1985: Browns (8-8) 1982: Browns (4-5)* 1982: Lions (4-5)* 1969: Oilers (6-6-2) *Strike-shortened season
Source: 2010 NFL Record & Fact Book
acted, would enable a wild-card team with a superior record to be seeded ahead of a division winner. “I think it should be dis-
cussed,” McKay said, “and I think it would get more support than the last time.” Currently, the division win-
ners get the top four postseason seeds in each conference, and the wild-card teams are seeded fifth and
sixth.The higher-seed- ed team in each playoff match- up plays at home. “We’ve talked about that a
few times over the years,” New York Giants co-owner John Mara said Wednesday. “That will be discussed. I can’t tell you I have a lot of hope for that passing. A lot of people feel like there should be a reward for winning your division. I under- stand it, but I don’t necessarily agree with it. If you win 10 or 11 games, I don’t think you should have to go on the road to play a team that won seven or eight games.” Such a measure would have
to be approved by at least 24 of the 32 teams, and similar pro- posals have been rejected by the owners in the past. McKay ac- knowledged that getting 24 votes for a playoff re-seeding proposal “is a tough hill to climb.” NFL Commissioner Roger
Goodell said: “It’s not a new conversation.We’ve had an aw- ful lot of discussion about that over the past several years, and I’msureit willcomeupagainfor discussion. I see the merits of what they’re talking about.ButI also believe that our playoff sys- tem has worked quite well also.” Goodell said that owners in
the past “were focused a lot on that the priority should be win your division, get a home game. And that’s what clubs really felt should be the priority.” Lurie saidWednesday: “It’s a
tough question. If you’re in a very difficult division, it’s tough to achieve a great record. . . .We tendtogobackandforthonthat from one year to the next.” In the meantime, the Rams
and Seahawks will go about the business of trying to win their division, apparently unapolo- getically. “The fact that we’re still play-
ing biggamesinmid-December, I think that’s really good for this team and this organization,” Rams rookie quarterback Sam Bradford said at a news confer- enceduring the week.“Hopeful- ly the games will only continue to get bigger.” Jackson said: “Our goal is to
be theNFCWest champs.”
maskem@washpost.com
NHLSTANDINGS,BOXSCORES
EASTERNCONFERENCE SOUTHEAST W L OL PTS. GF GA Atlanta
Tampa Bay Washington Carolina Florida
18 11 5 41 109 97 18 10 4 40 99 108 18 12 4 40 101 97 15 12 4 34 89 94 14 16 0 28 80 78
ATLANTIC W L OL PTS. GF GA Philadelphia 22 7 5 49 117 82 Pittsburgh
N.Y. Rangers 20 14 New Jersey
N.Y. Islanders 6 18
21 10 2 44 104 78 1 41 105 91
9 21 2 20 58 98 6 18 65 104
NORTHEAST W L OL PTS. GF GA Montreal Boston Ottawa Buffalo Toronto
19 11 2 40 85 69 17 10 4 38 89 65 14 16 4 32 79 103 13 16 4 30 84 95 12 16 4 28 72 96
WESTERNCONFERENCE CENTRAL Detroit
xNashville Chicago
xSt. Louis Columbus
W L OL PTS. GF GA 20 8 3 43 102 84 17 8
6 40 82 73
17 14 3 37 108 101 15 10 5 35 80 84 16 13 3 35 82 90
NORTHWEST W L OL PTS. GF GA Vancouver Colorado xCalgary
xMinnesota Edmonton
PACIFIC Dallas
Anaheim Phoenix
xSan Jose
18 8 4 40 98 77 18 10 4 40 118 103 14 15 3 31 89 93 13 13 4 30 72 89 12 14 5 29 84 108
W L OL PTS. GF GA 19 10 3 41 91 87 17 15 4 38 93 106 15 9
7 37 88 87 xLos Angeles 17 11
16 11 5 37 96 93 1 35 82 71
x-Late game; One point awarded for OT losses.
FRIDAY’SRESULTS Nashville 3, New Jersey 1 Florida 6, Buffalo 2 Chicago 4, Detroit 1 Colorado 6 Ottawa 5 (OT)
SATURDAY’SRESULTS
Phoenix 4, N.Y. Islanders 3 (SO) Philadelphia 4, N.Y. Rangers 1 Boston 3,Washington 2 Carolina 4, Anaheim 2 Atlanta 7, New Jersey 1 Dallas 2, Columbus 1 Vancouver 4, Toronto 1 Tampa Bay 3, Buffalo 1 San Jose at St. Louis, Late Los Angeles at Nashville, Late Minnesota at Calgary, Late
SUNDAY’SGAMES
Dallas at Detroit, 5 Los Angeles at Chicago, 7 Washington at Ottawa, 7:30 Montreal at Colorado, 8
MONDAY’SGAMES
Atlanta at Toronto, 7 Florida at Philadelphia, 7 Phoenix at Pittsburgh, 7 Anaheim at Boston, 7:30 Carolina at Tampa Bay, 7:30 Vancouver at St. Louis, 8 Calgary at Minnesota, 8
CAPITALS’NEXTTHREE
at Senators Today, 7:30 Comcast SportsNet
vs. Devils Tuesday, 7:30 Versus
vs. Penguins Thursday, 7 Comcast SportsNet
Radio: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
BLACKHAWKS4, REDWINGS1
Late Friday Tomas Kopecky scored two goals,
and injury-depleted Chicago beat De- troit to end a three-game losing streak. Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell also connected for the defending Stanley Cup champions, who improved to 9-9-0 at home.
DETROIT .................................. 1 CHICAGO .................................. 2
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Chicago, Sharp 18 (Seabrook, Toews), 1:04 (pp). 2, Chicago, Bickell 9 (Pisani, Seabrook), 4:32. 3, Detroit, Eaves 6 (Ericsson, Rafalski), 4:59.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Chicago, Kopecky 4 (Campbell, Hjalmarsson), 11:22.
THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 5, Chicago, Kopecky 5 (Skille, Dowell), 18:56 (en).
SHOTS ON GOAL DETROIT ................................ 15
CHICAGO ................................ 14 8 11
7 — 30 5 — 30
Power-play opportunities: Detroit 0 of 0; Chicago 1 of 1. Goalies: Detroit, Howard 17-6-2 (29 shots-26 saves). Chicago, Crawford 9-6-1 (30-29). A: 21,904 (19,717). T: 2:17.
0 1
0 — 1 1 — 4
THRASHERS7,DEVILS1 Eric Boulton scored three times for
his first career NHL hat trick, Chris Thorburn added a goal and two as- sists, and Atlanta routed New Jersey. Former Atlanta captain Ilya Koval-
chuk scored a power-play goal in the second period for the Devils,whohave dropped 11 of 15 overall and eight straight on the road. The Thrashers have won three of
their last five. NEWJERSEY ........................... 0
ATLANTA ................................. 3 FIRST PERIOD
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Atlanta, Ladd 11 (Peverley, Enstrom), 6:37. 5, New Jersey, Kovalchuk 8 (Zajac, Elias), 15:43 (pp).
THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 6, Atlanta, Boulton 3 (Thorburn, Slater), 4:07. 7, Atlanta, Boulton 4, 16:54. 8, Atlanta, Thorburn 5 (Kane, Stewart), 18:58.
SHOTS ON GOAL NEWJERSEY ........................... 4
ATLANTA ............................... 11
11 7
12 — 27 4 — 22
Power-play opportunities: New Jersey 1 of 3; Atlanta 0 of 2. Goalies: New Jersey, Brodeur 5-14-1 (15 shots-11 saves), Hedberg (7:35 second, 7-4). Atlanta, Pavelec 11-6-3 (27-26). A: 17,024 (18,545). T: 2:25.
CANUCKS4, MAPLELEAFS1
Alex Burrows scoredwith 1:07 left in
the first period, and Jannik Hansen scored with 2:06 remaining in the second as Vancouver beat Toronto. Mikhail Grabovksi made it a 2-1
game8:14 into the thirdwhenRoberto Luongo whiffed on his 30-foot shot with his glove. But Christian Ehrhoff restored the two-goal lead with a screened point shot with five minutes left. Henrik Sedin scored into an emp- ty net with 30.7 seconds remaining. Luongo finished with 27 saves.
TORONTO ................................ 0 VANCOUVER ........................... 1
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Vancouver, Burrows 6 (Bieksa,
D.Sedin), 18:53.
SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 2, Vancouver, Hansen 3 (Kesler, Tambellini), 17:54.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 3, Toronto, Grabovski 11 (MacArthur, Kulemin), 8:14. 4, Vancouver, Ehrhoff 5 (Hansen, Edler), 14:57. 5, Vancouver,
H.Sedin 6 (Burrows, Bieksa), 19:29 (en).
SHOTS ON GOAL TORONTO .............................. 11
VANCOUVER ........................... 9
6 9
11 — 28 11 — 29
Power-play opportunities: Toronto 0 of 3; Vancouver 0 of 5. Goalies: Toronto, Gustavsson 4-9-2 (28 shots-25 saves). Vancouver, Luongo 15-8-2 (28-27). A: 18,860 (18,810). T: 2:23.
HURRICANES4,DUCKS2
Eric Staal scored three goals for Carolina, which held on to beat Ana- heim and extend its season-best win- ning streak to four. Staal scored two power-play goals during his natural hat trick — the 12th three-goal game of his career. Jussi Jokinen had two assists, and Joe Corvo scored an empty-netter for the Hurricanes. Ryan Getzlaf scored his second goal with 1:48 left to make it a one-goal game. Jonas Hiller finished with 28 saves.
ANAHEIM ................................ 1 CAROLINA ............................... 2
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Anaheim, Getzlaf 12 (Perry, Ryan), 2:39. 2, Carolina,
E.Staal 14 (Jokinen, Pitkanen), 7:27 (pp). 3, Carolina,
E.Staal 15 (McBain, Jokinen), 19:33 (pp).
SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 4, Carolina,
E.Staal 16 (Cole, Skinner), 1:41.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5, Anaheim, Getzlaf 13 (Visnovsky, Perry), 18:12 (pp). 6, Carolina, Corvo 6 (
Bra.Sutter), 19:55 (en-sh).
SHOTS ON GOAL ANAHEIM .............................. 11
CAROLINA ............................. 11
15 11
19 — 45 10 — 32
Power-play opportunities: Anaheim 1 of 7; Carolina 2 of 3. Goalies: Anaheim, Hiller 15-12-3 (31 shots-28 saves). Carolina, Ward 14-9-3 (45-43). A: 16,603 (18,680). T: 2:32.
AVALANCHE6, SENATORS5 (OT)
Late Friday Matt Duchene scored his second
goal of the game with 2:24 remaining in overtime to lift Colorado past Otta- wa for its fifth straight victory.
OTTAWA ............................ 2 COLORADO ........................ 1
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Ottawa, Karlsson 6 (Kelly, Ruutu), 2:14. 2, Colorado, Galiardi 4 (Shattenkirk, Porter), 3:55. 3, Ottawa, Michalek 7 (Shannon), 7:48.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Colorado, McLeod 4 (Liles, Dupuis), 10:14. 5, Ottawa, Carkner 1 (Neil, Kelly), 11:39. 6, Colorado, Duchene 12 (Liles, Shattenkirk), 16:55 (pp).
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 7, Colorado, Yip 8 (Porter, Dupuis), 2:08. 8, Ottawa, Kovalev 8 (Fisher, Gonchar), 4:29 (pp). 9, Ottawa, Alfredsson 11 (Foligno), 11:15. 10, Colorado, O’Reilly 4 (Winnik, O’Byrne), 16:47.
OVERTIME Scoring: 11, Colorado, Duchene 13 (Fleischmann), 2:36.
SHOTS ON GOAL OTTAWA ............................ 7
COLORADO ........................ 5
14 13
8 6
0 — 29 1 — 25
Power-play opportunities: Ottawa 1 of 5; Colorado 1 of 3. Goalies: Ottawa, B.Elliott 10-9-3 (25 shots-19 saves). Colorado, Anderson 9-4-2 (29-24). A: 15,113 (18,007). T: 2:21.
1 2
2 2
0 — 5 1 — 6
0 1
1 — 2 1 — 4
0 1
1 — 1 2 — 4
COYOTES4, ISLANDERS3(SO)
Kyle Turris scored Phoenix’s third
goal of the shootout and the Coyotes rallied to beat New York. Shane Doan and Radim Vrbata also
scoredforPhoenix, which got the tying goal from Martin Hanzal with 1:28 left in regulation.
PHOENIX ............................ 1 N.Y. ISLANDERS ................ 0
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2, N.Y. Islanders, Joensuu 2 (Tavares, Wis- niewski), 9:17. 3, N.Y. Islanders, Grabner 7 (Joensuu), 14:46.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Phoenix, Wolski 5 (Doan, Ekman-Larsson), 4:03. 5, N.Y. Islanders, Schremp 6 (Grabner, MacDonald), 6:22 (pp). 6, Phoenix, Hanzal 9 (Yandle, Whitney), 18:32.
SHOOTOUT
Phoenix 3 (Doan G, Vrbata G, Turris G), N.Y. Islanders 1 (Nielsen G, Schremp NG).
SHOTS ON GOAL PHOENIX ............................ 8
N.Y. ISLANDERS .............. 19
13 12
11 9
3 — 35 4 — 44
Power-play opportunities: Phoenix 1 of 7; N.Y. Islanders 1 of 8. Goalies: Phoenix, LaBarbera 3-3-1 (44 shots-41 saves). N.Y. Islanders, Lawson 0-0-1 (35-32). A: 8,433 (16,234). T: 2:44.
CAPITALSSTATISTICS
Entering Saturday’s games SCORING
GP
Ovechkin ........... 33 Backstrom ......... 33 Semin ................ 32 Laich .................. 33 Carlson .............. 33 Green ................ 26 Knuble ............... 30 Chimera ............. 33 Fehr ................... 31 Hendricks .......... 32 Bradley .............. 26 Erskine .............. 31 Hannan .............. 30 Poti .................... 14 Steckel .............. 27 Alzner ............... 33 Perreault ............. 8 Beagle ................. 2 Gordon ................ 2 Team ................. 33 Opponents ........ 33
GOALIES Opponents Varlamov ............. 10 G
12 11 18 8 3 5 6 4 4 4 2 3 0 2 3 1 2 0 0
24 23 15 12 11 9 7 6 6 5 5 4 6 4 2 3 2 0 0
A PTS +/- PM 36
34 33 20 14 14 13 10 10 9 7 7 6 6 5 4 4 0 0
97 161 258 92 152 244
Neuvirth ............... 22 12 Team
4 5
.... 33 18 11 .... 33 15 13
1 2 4 5
7 6 7 9 4 7 4
-10 -5 -3 3 3
-7 -1 -5 -2 4
-1 -2
25 12 43 14 30 32 12 33 12 59 26 43 12 6
15 14 4 2 0
3 451 -3 422
GP W L OT SHO GA SV% 4
1 25 .908 1 54 .908 2 92 .902 4 97 .910
0 2
2 1
0 — 4 0 — 3
FIRST PERIOD Scoring: 1, Phoenix, Vrbata 7 (Doan, Yandle), 6:57 (pp).
1 1
0 — 1 3 — 7
Scoring: 1, Atlanta, Hainsey 1 (Sopel, Antropov), 10:56. 2, Atlanta, Boulton 2 (Thorburn, Oduya), 15:30. 3, Atlanta, Kane 11 (Stewart, Hainsey), 16:08.
LIGHTNING3,SABRES1 Steven Stamkos scored his 25th
goal of the season, and Martin St. Louis had an empty-net goal and two assists to spark Tampa Bay. Mike Smith stopped 22 shots,
helping the Lightning win for just the second time in their last 11 home games against Buffalo. Ryan Miller made 34 saves for the Sabres.
BUFFALO ................................. 0 TAMPA BAY ............................ 0
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Tampa Bay, Gagne 3 (Lecavalier, St. Louis), 12:16 (pp). 2, Tampa Bay, Stamkos 25 (St. Louis, Malone), 18:10. 3, Buffalo, Pominville 5 (Hecht, Sekera), 19:12.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Tampa Bay, St. Louis 12 (Stamkos, Ohlund), 19:58 (en).
SHOTS ON GOAL BUFFALO ................................. 7
TAMPA BAY .......................... 10 5 18
11 — 23 9 — 37
Power-play opportunities: Buffalo 0 of 5; Tampa Bay 1 of 4. Goalies: Buffalo, Miller 11-10-3 (36 shots-34 saves). Tampa Bay, Smith 10-5-0 (23-22). A: 17,141 (19,758). T: 2:26.
1 2
0 — 1 1 — 3
BRUINS3,CAPITALS2 WASHINGTON ......................... 0
BOSTON ................................... 3 FIRST PERIOD
1 0
1 — 2 0 — 3
Scoring: 1, Boston, Bergeron 6 (Wheeler, McQuaid), 3:27. 2, Boston, Ference 1 (Marchand, Krejci), 8:13. 3, Boston, Wheeler 8 (Bergeron, Boychuk), 17:03. Penal- ties: Bradley, Was, major (fighting), 8:17; McQuaid, Bos, major (fighting), 8:17.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Washington, Bradley 3 (Steckel, Hendricks), 2:18. Penalties: Marchand, Bos (high-sticking), 5:23.
THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 5, Washington, Alzner 2 (Carlson, Ovechkin), 14:32. Penalties: None.
SHOTS ON GOAL WASHINGTON ......................... 5
BOSTON ................................. 11
10 8
26 — 41 2 — 21
Power-play opportunities: Washington 0 of 1; Boston 0 of 0. Goalies: Washington, Neuvirth 12-6-2 (21 shots-18 saves). Boston, Thomas 15-3-3 (41-39). A: 17,565 (17,565). T: 2:23.
STARS2,BLUEJACKETS1 Brad Richards scored twice, and
Dallas benefited from a controversial call to beat Columbus. Richards netted the winner in the
third period on a hard, low wrist shot from the top of the left circle that eluded Blue Jackets G Mathieu Garon while the teams were each a man down. Fedor Tyutin scored for the Blue
Jackets. They have lost four in a row and 10 of 12. Referee Chris Rooney waved off Derek Dorsett’s goal in the second period, saying Columbus’s Ethan Moreau interfered with Stars G Kari Lehtonen outside the crease. A crowdof 13,973booed the officials
the rest of the night. TheStars have earned points in 11 of
their last 13 games (9-2-2). DALLAS .................................... 1
COLUMBUS .............................. 1 FIRST PERIOD
0 0
1 — 2 0 — 1
Scoring: 1, Dallas, Richards 13 (Ribeiro, Robidas), 13:13 (pp). 2, Columbus, Tyutin 1 (Moreau, Stralman), 19:11.
THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 3, Dallas, Richards 14 (Eriksson), 6:17.
SHOTS ON GOAL DALLAS .................................... 6
COLUMBUS ............................ 14 7 13
10 — 23 9 — 36
Power-play opportunities: Dallas 1 of 6; Columbus 0 of 5. Goalies: Dallas, Lehtonen 14-7-3 (36 shots-35 saves). Columbus, Garon 7-4-2 (23-21). A: 13,973 (18,144). T: 2:38.
FLYERS4,RANGERS1 Nikolay Zherdev is playing his way
into a more prominent role for Phila- delphia. Zherdev, playing against his former
team for the second time this season, scored two goals and Brian Boucher stopped 24 shots to lead the Flyers to a win over New York. Andreas Nodl and Ville Leino also
scored for the Flyers, who have won five straight and seven of eight. They lead the NHL with 49 points.
.Y. RANGERS ........................... 0 PHILADELPHIA ........................ 0
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Nodl 8 (Giroux), 3:19. 3, N.Y. Rangers, Stepan 9 (Frolov, Christensen), 8:23. 4, Phila- delphia, Leino 8 (Timonen, Briere), 9:57. 5, Philadelphia, Zherdev 13 (Meszaros, Carter), 15:06 (pp).
SHOTS ON GOAL N.Y. RANGERS ......................... 7
PHILADELPHIA ...................... 11
12 15
6 — 25 13 — 39
Power-play opportunities: N.Y. Rangers 0 of 4; Philadel- phia 1 of 4. Goalies: N.Y. Rangers, Lundqvist 14-12-1 (39 shots-35 saves). Philadelphia, Boucher 7-3-2 (25-24). A: 19,898 (19,537). T: 2:25.
0 1
1 — 1 3 — 4
SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 1, Philadelphia, Zherdev 12 (Richards), 9:06.
gest positive to come out of yet another loss, though, was that this time Washington didn’t col- lapse. “Itwould have been easy in our
situation for us to just say, ‘Pfft, there you go,’ but they worked their [rear end] off the last two periods,” said Coach Bruce Bou- dreau,whose teamtravels to face Ottawa on Sunday. “Sometimes you’re sitting there and things aren’t going well and you’re just wishing you could get a break . We haven’t been getting thembut we’ll justpersevere andmove on.” By giving the Bruins a 20-min-
ute head start, though, the Capi- talswouldn’tneed to simply solve Thomas, but beat him at least four times to escape with a victo- ry. Finding ways to foil Thomas hasn’t been an easy feat for the Capitals this year. In the teams’ first three meetings he stopped all but five of the 100 shots Washingtonfiredagainsthim.He finished Saturday’s contest hav-
ing thwarted all but seven of 141 shots by the Capitals this regular season. The Capitals came out with
more energy and gumption in the second and got on the boardwith Bradley’s goal on an awkward angle shot that hit the inside of the left post and into the net to make it 3-1. The tally gaveWash- ington life with more than half the game remaining, but despite numerous scoring chances and a power play the Capitals would end the second still trailing by a pair. The sharp turnaround from
the first to the second was the product of a reality check in between periods. “Just don’t talk about it, just go
out and do it,” Eric Fehr said of the message during the first in- termission. “We’ve been talking about howwe’re going to regroup the last six or sevengames andwe haven’t done it.We justwanted to show what we can do on the ice.”
Washington took even greater
control in the third, peppering Thomas with shots. But regard- less of chaos in front or point- blank rebound chances, the for- mer Vezina Trophy winner con- tinued to make saves. It wasn’t until a shot from the point by Karl Alzner deflected off a Bruins defender and past Thomas made it 3-2 and gave the Capitals con- tinued hope for a rally. With more than five minutes
remaining at the time of Alzner’s goal, therewas hope, but Thomas staved off all final chances — including one by Alex Ovechkin with 11 seconds left. “We’ve had two decent games
in a row and we’re getting close” to breaking the slump, Alzner said. “It’s beginning to feel a little better, a little more uppity in the dressing room. We need to get our swagger back, the swagger the Capitals have had the last couple of years.”
carrerak@washpost.com
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