Jose Theodore made 33 saves, including all three shots in a shootout, and the Washington Capitals (27-11-3, first in Southeast) defeated the Philadelphia Flyers (21-10-9, second in Atlantic), 2-1, in a playoff atmosphere before a capacity crowd at the Verizon Center.
Viktor Kozlov beat Flyers goalie Martin Biron (33 saves) on the first shot in the shootout, and the rest was all Theodore. The resurgent netminder stoned Simon Gagne, Mike Richards, and Jeff Carter on successive shots to cement the victory—and exact a measure of revenge for the 7-1 shellacking back in December.
The Capitals have not lost since that game, a streak of seven straight. Theodore has been the goalie for six of those games.
All three shooters tried to beat Theodore on low shots to his stick side, but twice he closed the door with his left foot on the post. On the final shot, Theodore faced the dangerous Carter—who is tied with Alex Ovechkin for the league lead in goals with 27— but he got enough of Carter's five-hole attempt to thwart the talented forward and preserve the win.
The Caps' regulation goal came early, off the stick of Niklas Backstrom, who is campaigning for his first All-Star berth, as he stands ninth in the league in scoring (12-33-45). His 12th of the season came from a pass from behind the net from Alexander Semin. That marker would stand until the first minute of the third period.
With Michael Nylander off with a weak hooking call, Braydon Coburn's shot from the post was deflected by not one, but two Capitals defenders and snuck behind Theodore.
Washington killed off a 3:30 penalty kill, including 30 seconds of five-on-three, during a back-and-forth second period. Flyers defenseman Ossi Vaananen made a spectacular sliding block, robbing Nylander of his second goal of the season.
The Capitals are now 18-1-1 at home this season, and have two days to rest with Columbus visiting on Friday night at 7:00 p.m.
SCORESHEET
WAS: Backstrom (11) from Semin and Kozlov (1-2:10-PP)
PHI: Coburn (5) from Timonen and Carter (3-0:23-PP)
THREE STARS
1. J. Theodore - WAS (Saves: 33, Save Pct: .971)
2. V. Kozlov - WAS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1)
3. M. Biron - PHI (Saves: 33, Save Pct: .971)
NOTES
The game was delayed several minutes before the shootout as the Flyers' bench complained about the snow in the Philadelphia end and made the Zambonis come back out to resurface the ice.
The Caps maintain their 10-point lead over Carolina in the Southeast Division, and with Boston's loss are just five points behind the Eastern Conference's leaders
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