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Johnson has another fantastic outing with 32 saves
The day began with yet another injury, leaving them pondering who exactly would be manning the goal later in the evening.
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But nothing seems to rattle the Capitals these days. Even as they frantically tried to fly in a minor-league call-up from a road trip in Texas and signed their own Web producer, Brett Leonhardt, to an amateur contract in the afternoon, the drama had little affect.
A gimpy Brent Johnson gutted through another outstanding performance, defenseman Mike Green and forward Sergei Fedorov celebrated their return to the lineup with a combined six points and star left wing Alex Ovechkin added a pair of power-play goals in a 5-1 rout of the Ottawa Senators at Verizon Center.
“We’re professionals,” said Caps forward Matt Bradley, who finished with an assist and drilled a shot off the post of Ottawa goalie Alex Auld. “Whoever is in net, whoever is on the bench or whoever is playing it doesn’t matter. We all have to do our jobs.”
The Caps did theirs brilliantly. Johnson finished with 32 saves, not allowing a goal until Jesse Winchester scored with 2 minutes, 23 seconds to go in the game. He lost the shutout, but it was still Johnson’s fourth consecutive win. He has stopped 111 of the last 116 shots he’s faced (.957 save percentage) and has already bested his win total from last season. And all that despite a lingering hip injury of his own.
“I feel all right, a little sore still,” Johnson said. “It was a tough game there, tough game to play. They came off flying and we were up to the challenge, the whole bunch of us.”
The Caps are beginning to regain a measure of health. Forward Alexander Semin, who had an assist in his first game back on Wednesday after missing 12 in a row with a back muscle injury, scored his 14th goal of the year just 3:55 into the contest. Fedorov finished with three assists after missing 16 of his last 17 games with an ankle injury. One of those came on a goal by Brooks Laich, who ripped a shot past Auld at 4:48 of the second. In the third, Green scored one of Washington’s three power-play goals on the night, one-timing home a pass from teammate Nicklas Backstrom (three assists). Green also added two assists.
“It felt really nice,” said Green, who missed 11 games with a shoulder bruise. “I don’t know if you’ve seen the way I reacted. It’s frustrating watching games and to finally come back and have something good happen is just great. Maybe things can roll from here.”
Ovechkin’s second goal at 14:05 of the third came from an extreme angle on the left wing after a nifty cross-ice feed from Backstrom. It was Ovechkin’s 17th goal of the year and made it 5-0 Washington. The Caps converted 3-of-7 power plays and outshot the Senators, 34-33.
“Sometimes when you see the adversity of the goaltending situation that was evolving today the players dig deeper for a teammate, for Johnnie” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “I thought we played a pretty good game.”
Caps notes
» Caps forward Matt Bradley recorded his 100th NHL point on teammate Brooks Laich’s second-period goal.
» Washington left immediately after the game for a flight to Montreal, whom they face tonight at Bell Centre. With goalies Jose Theodore and Brent Johnson still ailing, Caps coach Bruce Boudreau said he could start Russian rookie Simeon Varlamov, 20, who was recalled from AHL Hershey and only arrived at Verizon Center midway through the first period. He relieved Web producer-turned-back-up goalie Brett Leonhardt. It was the first NHL game for both.
» Attendance on Friday night at Verizon Center was 17,973.
» Ottawa has now lost its last five road games against the Caps.
» Forward Sergei Fedorov, finally recovered from a troublesome ankle injury, recorded his first three-point game of the season and first in almost exactly two years — Dec. 18, 2006 for Columbus against Detroit.
» Forward Alex Ovechkin now has 12 goals and nine assists in 14 career games against the Senators.
