• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ovechkin, Kolzig lead Capitals past Panthers

Apr 4, 2007 - 4:35 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Alexander Ovechkin and Olaf Kolzig helped the Washington Capitals put the Florida Panthers' slim playoff hopes on life support.

Ovechkin scored the only goal of the contest and Kolzig stopped all 27 shots he faced en route to his 34th career shutout, leading the Capitals to a 1-0 triumph over the Panthers.

Ovechkin tallied his 44th goal of the season 5:28 into the second period, as he received a backhand pass from Brooks Laich and one-timed it past the right shoulder of goaltender Craig Anderson.

"I felt pretty good today," Ovechkin said. "Today's game was good for us. We worked hard and Olaf did an unbelievable job."

This was Kolzig's first shutout since February 15, 2004 when he faced the Chicago Blackhawks during a 4-0 win.

"There was a lot of a help, lot of luck," Kolzig said. "To get a shutout you need all those things to happen. It took three years for it to happen to me. The ice was horrible out there. I don't think any team could get control of the puck and really generate any chances off the rush. The pucks were bouncing everywhere. The bottom line is we got the win and in order to get that I had to get the shutout. I always say the shutout for me is a bonus."

Florida will need to win all of its remaining games or be eliminated from Eastern Conference playoff contention.

"Well I thought that we got stronger as the game went on and just weren't able to get one by Kolzig," Panthers' coach Jacques Martin said. "I thought we had several good chances we hit a couple of posts and he made a couple of good saves."

Anderson made 16 saves for Florida (34-31-15), which was 0-for-2 on the power play.