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Gonchar's goal helps Penguins maintain mastery of Capitals

Dec 28, 2007 - 4:37 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- After making two critical turnovers earlier in the contest, defenseman Sergei Gonchar made up for it in overtime on Thursday night.

Blue-liner Darryl Sydor scored his first goal of the season late in the third period to tie the game and Gonchar notched the game-winner in the extra session as the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 4-3 victory over the Washington Capitals.

Pittsburgh, which has defeated Washington six straight times, has not lost to the Capitals since March 8, 2006.

"When you score in the last couple of minutes and then, obviously, overtime - it's a big two points," Sydor said.

Sidney Crosby had two assists and Colby Armstrong and Jeff Taffe each scored a goal in the first period for the Penguins.

"We came back and played a solid third period," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "I thought the first period was good, we dictated the game. We were outworked in the second period ... the work ethic was back in the third period and overtime."

Gonchar blasted a one-timer off a drop pass from Crosby past goaltender Olaf Kolzig just 93 seconds into overtime to lift Pittsburgh to its third win in its last four contests.

The goal had to be especially pleasing to Gonchar after the 33-year-old Russian made a pair of critical giveaways that led to Washington goals in the game.

"I had a couple bad mistakes and didn't feel great, obviously," Gonchar said. "But I scored a goal, so that makes me feel much better now."

Just over three minutes after Taffe started the scoring with his first goal as a member of the Penguins, Gonchar attempted to make a pass off the end boards, but it ricocheted off the side off the net instead. Boyd Gordon reeled in the puck and made a pass to Donald Brashear, who converted for his second tally of the season to tie the game at 1-1 with 4:36 left in the opening session.

Gonchar also made a critical turnover on Alex Ovechkin's goal that gave the Capitals a 3-2 edge late in the second period. The 22-year-old rookie scored after Nicklas Backstrom stole the puck from Gonchar behind the net and made a centering pass to Ovechkin, who scored his 26th goal of the campaign with 94 ticks remaining.

"(Gonchar) kept battling and when you work hard, good things happen," Crosby said. "He kept going and scored a big goal for us."

Ovechkin's goal would have stood as the game-winner, had it not been for Sydor's heroics late in the third period.

After Erik Christensen won the faceoff, Sydor fired a one-timer that deflected off defenseman Milan Jurcina and past Kolzig to tie the game at 3-3 with 2:16 remaining in regulation.

"We play well for 58 minutes, we take a penalty and we do a heck of a job killing it and then there's a faceoff and they get a shot on net, it goes off (Jurcina) and they score in overtime," Washington center Brooks Laich said. "I don't know what to say about tonight."

Ty Conklin made a rare start for the Penguins. In just his fourth appearance - third start - of the season, Conklin made 22 saves to maintain his perfect record at 3-0-0 this season.

The Penguins took a 2-1 lead with 2:07 remaining in the period when Armstrong was credited with his fourth goal of the season that deflected off Jurcina and between the pads of starting netminder Brent Johnson. Johnson would leave the game after that play with a knee sprain that should sideline him for two to four weeks.

Johnson stopped just seven of the nine shots he faced in just under 18 minutes of work and was replaced by Kolzig, who was outstanding until Sydor's game-tying tally.

Kolzig turned aside 16 shots in almost 44 minutes of action.

"This is the thing that has killed us that has caused us to lose games since I've been here," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, who took over after Glen Hanlon was fired last month.

"We get ahead and it's like we're hanging on and protecting the lead rather than trying to score more. We have chances to put the game away; we have to have that killer instinct."