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Pyatt's two goals help Canucks extend streak vs. Capitals

Oct 27, 2007 - 3:05 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Taylor Pyatt, Roberto Luongo and the rest of the Vancouver Canucks enjoy facing the Washington Capitals.

Pyatt scored a pair of goals and Luongo made 26 saves as the Canucks skated past the Capitals, 3-2, on Friday.

Entering with five tallies in 15 career games against Washington, Pyatt raised the total in this one, snapping a tie midway through the first period and adding insurance early in the third. The seven goals vs. the Capitals matches Pyatt's highest against any opponent, as he also has tallied seven times in 21 career meetings with Montreal.

"I thought he played a really strong game," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "When he uses his size, when he showed a little bit of meanness there, he responded. We need him playing that way.

"He was just a little bit meaner. The longer fuse became shorter and he just decided to use his strength and his body. He's really effective when he decides to do that. We're going to find one player on every team to smack him every game and we'll be all right."

Luongo improved to 7-0-3 against Washington since the beginning of the 2003-04 season, giving Vancouver a big game just when it needed it.

"I know they've got some skilled players up front. Alex (Ovechkin) likes to shoot a lot, so I like to challenge him, take away the angle," Luongo said. "I don't know if that's the reason for the success against them, but things go well against them.

"(Ovechkin) had a few chances and he decided to pass them off instead of shooting it. Maybe I'm in his head a little bit. Maybe you guys can ask him."

Ovechkin defended his decision to pass instead of shoot.

"If you see how he plays, when I try to pass, when I go in the corner to the middle, Luongo right away comes to me and the D goes right to me," he said. "Everybody thinks I will be shooting, so why do I have to be shooting? If he stays in the net, of course I will be shooting."

Pyatt made mention of the fact Luongo has had success against most teams.

"He plays well against everyone," Pyatt said. "He doesn't have many off-games. He was big for us again when we needed him."

The Canucks, who had lost four of their previous five games, concluded their four-game road trip with their fifth straight win over the Capitals.

"It's nice to win, lift the morale a little bit," Luongo said. "The guys were down after the last two games. We battled hard tonight and got the two points. That's what matters."

"It's only my second time," Vigneault said. "We beat them last year in a shootout, we beat them this year. Both games have been hard-fought. It's a fine line between winning and losing. Fortunately, we came out on the right side."

The Canucks, who were outshot, 39-15, in a loss at Detroit on Wednesday, took the lead just 2:11 into the game.

With the puck bouncing around in the low slot, Daniel Sedin punched it past goaltender Olaf Kolzig during a power play for his fifth tally of the season.

The Capitals tied it during a man advantage of their own at 8:45. After Luongo stopped a shot from the blue line, Michael Nylander got to the rebound in front and poked it by the netminder for Washington's fifth power-play goal in 40 opportunities this campaign.

Pyatt took over from there, slipping a backhander past Kolzig from the right side of the crease after receiving the puck on a strange bounce with 8:44 left in the opening period.

"I tried to put some pressure against them," Pyatt said. "Things bounced my way. I was able to get my stick on it and it went in."

Following a scoreless middle session, the 26-year-old doubled his goal total on the season at 3:37 of the third.

During a man advantage, Brendan Morrison fired a shot from along the end line on the right side of the net that hit the crossbar. The puck bounced into the crease for Pyatt, who knocked it in for his fourth of the campaign and a 3-1 bulge.

"They did a good job working the puck around the net, and it bounced right to my stick," Pyatt said.

"The power play gave us two goals, permitted us to get a lead, and we were able to weather the storm at the end," Vigneault said.

The Capitals made things interesting late in the period as Ovechkin netted his sixth goal with 96 seconds remaining.

With Washington on the power play and Kolzig pulled for an extra attacker, captain Chris Clark unleashed a shot from the left faceoff circle that whistled wide of the net. The puck caromed off the end boards to Ovechkin, who tucked it in at the right goalpost to cut the deficit to 3-2.

Luongo refused to recognize the goal, insisting he still has Ovechkin's number.

"That doesn't count," Luongo joked. "That was off the boards. We've got a pretty good rivalry from (when I was with Florida). Unfortunately, I don't get to see him much anymore. ... I enjoy playing him."

The Capitals received another power play 19 seconds later as Canucks defenseman Sami Salo was called for slashing. But the club was unable to get the equalizer as Vancouver extended its winning streak against Washington to five games and improved to 8-1-2 in the last 11 meetings between the teams.

"Close doesn't count," said Washington's Viktor Kozlov, who recorded an assist. "Doesn't give us two points."

Clark left the ice in the final minute after being hit in the left ear with a shot by Ovechkin and received stitches in the locker room.

"You know if Chris Clark is on the ice, it's not good," Washington coach Glen Hanlon said. "Whatever it is, it's not going to be good."

Kolzig finished with 23 saves for the Capitals.

"Their goaltender was really good," Vigneault said. "He made some big saves. We had four or five bang-bang plays there where we could have put it away. Kolzig, like Roberto, played a strong game."

The Capitals were unhappy with the quality of the ice but refused to use it as an excuse for the loss.

"This is our home rink, but the ice wasn't very good," Hanlon said. "That's not why we lost the hockey game, (though). It wasn't any good, but they had to deal with it, too, so it's the same for both teams."

"The ice was not so good because the puck was always jumping," Ovechkin added. "The first five minutes, ice is great. But after, ice is terrible."

Washington, which lost for the fifth time in six games, concluded its four-game homestand with a 1-3-0 record. The club also fell to 0-5-0 when allowing a power-play goal.