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Green's two goals help Capitals cruise past Senators

Jan 2, 2008 - 1:33 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mike Green and the Washington Capitals continued their good times against the Ottawa Senators.

Green scored twice as the Capitals overcame an early deficit to cruise past the Senators, 6-3, on Tuesday.

Viktor Kozlov tallied, Michael Nylander and Brooks Laich each added a goal and an assist and Boyd Gordon added an empty-netter late for Washington, which defeated Ottawa for the second time in four days.

The Capitals have also won all three games vs. the Senators this season, outscoring them by a margin of 18-10.

"When you're a young team that's not used to winning, you get a little nervous," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "You're saying: 'You're playing the Ottawa Senators. You're on the verge of beating them twice in a row.'"

When Boudreau was asked about his team's success against the Senators, he laughed.

"I have no idea. I still don't want to play them," he said.

Washington, which spotted Ottawa a 2-0 lead in the first five minutes of this game, roared back with five consecutive tallies, including three in a span of 2:19 in the first period.

After Senators' Chris Neil and Dean McAmmond scored at 1:54 and 4:46 of the first, Kozlov tallied 29 seconds later when he received a pass at the doorstep from Nicklas Backstrom, before sliding the puck past goaltender Martin Gerber to halve the Capitals' deficit.

It was just Kozlov's fourth goal of the season, his first at home and first since November 8.

"It feels great. We're down 0-2, then we go up 3-2, and it gets the spirits up," Kozlov said.

"The Kozlov goal gave us a big lift because everybody wanted him to score so badly," Boudreau said.

With each team down a man, Washington tied the score at the 6:59 mark when Gerber couldn't handle a blast by blue-liner Jeff Schultz with his glove before Nylander slipped the rebound into the back of the net.

Just 35 seconds later, on another 4-on-4, Green gained possesion of the puck in the neutral zone, skated in while splitting two defenders, before his wrister beat Gerber high to the glove side to give Washington its first lead at the 7:34 mark.

The three tallies in under 2 1/2 minutes signaled the end for Gerber, who surrendered a career-worst seven goals vs. the Capitals on Saturday.

"They were not good plays in goals," Senators coach John Paddock said. "We had to make a change. They score 10 goals on him in 63 minutes, you have to make a change."

Laich, who had assisted on Nylander's tally, scored his own with 4:15 left in the initial session.

After Donald Brashear had his shot denied by Ray Emery, who had entered for Gerber, Laich, also near the crease and from his knees, swatted the puck past the Ottawa backup netminder to make it 4-2.

"Brash fanned on it, and then I said, 'I'm going to put it in.' Then (Ottawa defenseman Wade) Redden took a whack at it, and I said, 'Oh, is this thing ever going to go in?,'" Laich said. "But the goalie was out of position, and I was able to put it in. At the time, it was a big goal for us."

Green, with a two-man advantage, gave Washington a three-goal bulge when his one-timer from the left faceoff dot increased the lead just 52 seconds in the middle period.

"My job here is to create offense," Green said. "If goals come my way, they come, but I think (it's) more (important) to be sound defensively."

It was the defenseman's third multi-goal game of the season, and his 10 goals in 2007-08 made him the first Capitals' blue-liner to reach double-digit tallies since Sergei Gonchar (18 goals) accomplished that feat in 2003-04.

"I keep up with what's going with other defensemen in the league, and I strive to be better each day," Green added.

It was also Washington's first 5-on-3 goal this season after failing on its first 10 two-man attempts.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros tallied 70 seconds in the third period for Ottawa, but Gordon scored from deep in his own zone with 1:51 left after Emery was lifted for an extra skater.

"You see them play tonight, you would think they'd be at the top of the standings," Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson said. "They're getting the bounces and everything's going for them."

Olaf Kolzig stopped 31 shots for the Capitals, who are 10-5-4 since Boudreau was hired to replace Glen Hanlon as coach on November 22.

"We said before the game, the Senators were going to come out with a little more energy with redemption on their minds," Kolzig said. "They did just that tonight. It was 2-0, and I'm sure Bruce read the riot act on the bench, and it woke us up."

Washington did suffer injuries to left wing Alexander Semin (tail bone) and defenseman Tom Poti (upper body injury), who both left the game.

Gerber allowed three-of-eight shot attempts get by him before Emery came on to make 15 saves for the Senators, who have lost six of eight overall vs. Washington.