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Semin, Ovechkin power Capitals past Hurricanes

Jan 28, 2007 - 5:15 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- When the Washington Capitals wanted to gain a measure of revenge vs. the Carolina Hurricanes, they called upon Alexander Semin.

Semin scored twice and had an assist and Alex Ovechkin tallied and set up another as the Capitals posted a 7-3 victory over the Hurricanes.

Rookie Eric Fehr and Kris Beech each had a goal and captain Chris Clark and Brooks Laich tallied as well for the Capitals, who lost to the Hurricanes, 6-2, in the first game of a home-and-home series Friday.

Semin scored the game's initial goal off a turnover. He skated in and blasted a shot over the glove of goaltender Cam Ward at 7:56 of the first period.

"Semin's got so much skill and such a bullet of a shot," Hurricanes center Eric Staal said. "You have to be aware of him all the time on the ice. He's got something like 30 goals. You have to pay attention to guys like that and limit their time and space."

Ovechkin tallied his team-high 31st goal just under two minutes later when Hurricanes defenseman Dennis Seidenberg lost the puck near his own net, allowing the All-Star to swoop in and wrist a shot past Ward.

Three minutes later, Semin stole the puck from Erik Cole near center ice, broke away and deked Ward, again going glove-side to give Washington a three-goal advantage.

"Semin's a tremendous player," Ovechkin said. "He's a scorer. We both love to score goals, and I'm very happy for him to score two goals. He was the best today."

After Justin Williams and Cole cut Carolina's deficit to one at the end of the session, Semin helped put away the game.

In the second period, the 22-year-old helped put Washington up two goals when he gained control of the puck off the boards and made a quick pass to Fehr, who one-timed a shot past Ward for his first career tally.

"I was fortunate to get that goal, Fehr said. "It was awesome. I took the puck from Semin and really wanted to put that one in so he wouldn't be mad at me. I didn't even think of it going in and there it was. Maybe that's the key to scoring goals."

Fehr had just been recalled hours earlier from Hershey of the American Hockey League and was appearing in his 14th NHL game.

"I though Fehr played well," Capitals coach Glen Hanlon said. "He did a nice job on the goal and then the next shift later he did a good job stripping the puck.

Semin has 51 points on the season. He has eight career goals and two assists in his career vs. the Hurricanes.

"We played fantastic the first 15 minutes," Capitals goaltedender Olaf Kolzig said. "It gave us a 3-0 and we never allowed them to get the equalizer.

"We kept pressing and pressing. It's a tough night for a goaltender when all you're facing is chances and you got guys like Ovechkin and Semin firing them at you, it makes for a long night."

Kolzig stopped 34 shots for Washington, which evened its record at 3-3 vs. Carolina this season.

Defenseman David Tanabe scored his first goal of the season and Ward made 16 saves for the Hurricanes, who have lost two of their last three games.

"You can't give up three goals early like we did," Hurricanes captain Rod Brind'Amour said. "It was a bad start. They just seemed to capitalize on their good chances. They were good tonight."

"We turned the puck over and gave them opportunities and they made the most of it," Hurricanes coach Peter Laviolette added. "The whole night they had the jump on us."