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Bradley, Kolzig help Capitals win in shootout

Jan 18, 2008 - 5:51 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Olaf Kolzig and the Washington Capitals beat the NHL's best shootout team at its own specialty.

Matt Bradley scored in the 12th round of the shootout and Kolzig denied all comers in the bonus format to lead the Capitals to a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

After 11 scoreless rounds, Bradley deked to his backhand and lifted a shot into the top corner of the net to give the Capitals the advantage.

"He didn't even let me say, 'Don't go,'" Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said of Bradley's request to enter the shootout ahead of four teammates. "He said, 'I'm going to score. Put me out there.' He jumped over the boards and went in, did a great move and scored.

"It was fabulous. That's what we need. You need guys that are going to go out there and not hope to score, but know they are (going to). Brads just wanted the puck."

Kolzig then stopped defenseman Sheldon Souray's slap shot to seal Washington's sixth win in its last eight games.

"He's a deceptive player," Kolzig said of Bradley. "He doesn't have the hardest shot on the team, but in a shootout, sometimes he can find the back of the net. He actually requested to go in before four other guys."

Kolzig was outstanding in the shootout, making his best save in the first round as he denied rookie Sam Gagner's backhanded attempt.

"We asked Bruce to start implementing some shootouts in practice," Kolzig said. "It's important for the players, and for the goalies, to get their timing down, and I applied what I did in practice to the game. It seemed to work."

The 15-year veteran received a little help as Jarret Stoll's stick broke on his opportunity in the seventh round, Marty Reasoner hit the goalpost in the ninth, and rookie Andrew Cogliano stumbled and tripped in the 10th.

"Once three guys go through, you really lose track of how many guys are going," Kolzig said. "You are hoping that your guy goes down and scores, and then you make the big save. (Dwayne) Roloson is a master at this, and I think that's whey their team is 11-2 in shootouts. They've got some crafty players."

Roloson was nearly as impressive at the other end, denying the first 11 shooters before Bradley bested him for the deciding goal. His best save came in the second round, when he made a glove stop on Alexander Semin's opportunity.

"I was just trying to give the guys a chance to win there," Roloson said. "We had some great moves and everyone played really well together. It's unfortunate to lose that point there, but it's nice to get at least one."

Edmonton, which earlier in the season set an NHL record with four consecutive shootout games, dropped to 11-3 in the bonus format this season. The Oilers are one shootout victory shy of the league record of 12 set by the Dallas Stars in 2005-06.

Both goaltenders thwarted breakaway chances in overtime to force the bonus format.

Roloson denied Tomas Fleischmann on a breakaway with 2:50 remaining in the extra session and, just 97 seconds later, Kolzig made a save on Stoll's shot from point-blank range.

Roloson then sent the game to the shootout by making a glove save on Alex Ovechkin's shot as the horn sounded.

Ovechkin, Semin and defenseman Mike Green each extended their goal-scoring streaks to three games for the Capitals, who won in a shootout for the first time this season.

"That's the future of the organization," Boudreau said of the young trio.

Shawn Horcoff scored two goals and set up another and Ales Hemsky added three assists for Edmonton, which has not won in Washington since January 26, 1997 - when the Capitals played at USAir Arena in Landover, Maryland.

"That game was there for us tonight," Horcoff said. "We have to take advantage of that."

The Oilers, who began a five-game road trip through the Southeast Division, never have won at Verizon Center, where they played Thursday for the first time since January 11, 2004.

Trailing, 2-0, after one period, the Capitals needed just 99 seconds to tie the game as rookie Nicklas Backstrom and Ovechkin tallied 38 seconds apart early in the second.

Backstrom stuffed home a rebound that halved the deficit just 61 seconds into the session, and Ovechkin's blast from the left faceoff circle forged a 2-2 tie at 1:39.

"You just got the sense early on that it was going to be one of those games that turned into 'nuclear hockey' as somebody said in there, where it was just end-to-end," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "The last rush was going to win."

The Oilers were one of just five NHL teams against which Ovechkin had not scored a goal. The San Jose Sharks are the lone remaining club that has held the Russian superstar without a point.

Edmonton regained the lead when Dustin Penner notched a power-play goal at 6:49 of the second.

Green, however, evened the contest during a man advantage with 8:02 left in the period.

After Ovechkin carried the puck into the offensive zone, he made a nice cross-ice feed to Green at the left point. Green took his time, moved into the faceoff circle and unleashed a wrist shot that beat Roloson to make it 3-3.

Semin gave Washington its first lead of the game at 4-3 with a wraparound goal with 52 seconds left in the second period. It was his 10th tally of the season.

Moments after hitting the post, Horcoff forged another tie with his 21st goal of the season and second of the night at 7:40 of the third period, when he blasted a one-timer past Kolzig.

Kolzig turned aside 29 shots, while Roloson finished with 28 saves.

Horcoff scored at 8:33 of the opening session and Robert Nilsson added a power-play tally with 6:07 left to give the Oilers a 2-0 advantage heading into the first intermission.

Nilsson was the beneficiary of a mistake by Capitals defenseman Jeff Schultz, who cleared the puck directly to the native of Calgary, leaving Kolzig virtually no chance on the play.