Kovalev breaks deadlock and scoring drought
The Washington Capitals have talked a lot over the last few days
about finishing the regular season strong, and they've managed to
lose three straight games.
Maybe they should take a lesson or two from the Ottawa
Senators.
The Senators, also looking to be in top form for the
postseason, won their fifth in a row Tuesday night, blowing an
early lead before rallying to beat the Capitals 5-4 in overtime.
``At this time of year, not only do you want to win games,
but you want to feel good about how you're playing, too,'' said
Jason Spezza, who had two goals and two assists.
``Confidence is huge this time of year, and there's a big
difference between the win and the loss and how the mood is in the
room the next day.''
Alex Kovalev scored a power-play goal with 18 seconds
remaining in the extra period - his first point since the Olympic
break - shortly after Nicklas Backstrom was whistled for a tripping
penalty. Peter Regin and Chris Campoli also scored for the
Senators, Daniel Alfredsson added two assists, and Brian Elliott
made 17 saves while allowing as many goals as he has did in his
last four games, when he went 4-0 with a pair of shutouts.
``I didn't have one of my best nights,'' Elliott said. ``But
it shows that we are becoming a pretty good team when your goalie
doesn't have his 'A' game, or close to it, but we can still put out
a win.''
The Capitals already have clinched the No. 1 overall seed in
the Eastern Conference, and the Senators are all but pigeonholed
into the No. 5 slot, so both teams are focused on fine-tuning.
Washington coach Bruce Boudreau shuffled his lines, reuniting
Alexander Semin and Alex Ovechkin, but his team fell into an early
hole for the second straight game.
Washington trailed 3-1 after the first period, two days after
going down 4-0 to Calgary in the first. Not a good sign for a team
that feels its tepid performances heading into the playoffs a year
ago contributed to a sluggish start to the postseason.
``Maybe we're not ready for the first period,'' Backstrom
said. ``We have to, because I remember last year in the playoffs we
weren't ready the first two games. So we have to get ready now and
play a good 60 minutes. We haven't played a good 60 minutes in a
while.''
Boudreau, however, isn't ready to declare that the Capitals
are slipping into 2009 mode.
``The difference between last year and this year is last year
we were playing teams that were out of the playoffs, so our level
of play came way down,'' Boudreau said. ``I think the teams we're
playing are fighting for something. That was a hard-fought game.
That wasn't a go-through-the-motions-type game. You had two teams
wanting it. I don't think our level of play will be dropping, like
it was last year.''
Semin scored his 36th and 37th goals, and Mike Green and
Mathieu Perreault also scored for the Capitals. Ovechkin got his
career-high 55th assist for his 101st point of the season. Jose
Theodore, who was pulled in the first period of the 5-3 loss to
Calgary on Sunday, had another rough outing - and that has Boudreau
concerned.
``I don't like five goals against,'' Boudreau said. ``That
has happened twice in a row and we've got to get better. There were
four pretty iffy goals out there tonight.''
Ottawa took the lead less than 90 seconds into the game on
Regin's backhander. Semin tied it on a power play, but Spezza
deflected Matt Cullen's one-timer on a power play to make it 2-1
just 4:31 into the first.
Campoli extended the lead to two late in the period as the
Senators capitalized on a turnover at the Capitals' blue line. At
the time, the Senators had as many goals (three) as the Capitals
did shots.
Semin scored on a breakaway to trim the Capitals' deficit to
one. Green tied it less than a minute later with a one-timer from
the left circle, and late-season call-up Perreault gave the
Capitals the lead early in the third period.
But Perreault was whistled for interference a few minutes
later, leading to Spezza's goal that tied it at 4 with a shot that
trickled through Theodore's legs.
NOTES: The Capitals had 21 shots on goal, their fewest since
November 2009. They had 28 shots blocked by the Senators. ...
Kovalev's goal was his 18th, but had been shut out through his
first 12 games after the Vancouver Olympics. ... Alfredsson
extended his scoring streak to eight games. ... Washington D John
Carlson left with an upper body injury, but Boudreau indicated it
was minor. Morrisonn returned after missing Sunday's game while
recovering from having his wisdom teeth pulled. Washington C Brooks
Laich missed his fourth game with facial injuries after being
struck by a puck in practice. C Brendan Morrison (lower body), RW
Scott Walker (knee) and C Boyd Gordon (back) remained sidelined.
... Ottawa LW Milan Michalek (left leg) sat out for the 12th time
in 13 games, while D Filip Kuba (lower body) missed his sixth
straight. ... Despite the loss, Theodore extended his club-record
streak to 20 games (17-0-3) without a regulation loss.
