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Ovechkin, Nylander propel Capitals past Hurricanes

Nov 25, 2007 - 3:56 AM By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Alex Ovechkin scored two goals and Michael Nylander had a goal and had two assists to lift the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday.

The victory was the Capitals' second straight under interim coach Bruce Boudreau. Washington defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-3, in overtime on Friday, one day after the Capitals fired then-coach Glen Hanlon.

"When you win, you feel more confident, better," Ovechkin said. "But it's only two games. ... It's history now."

Washington has now won consecutive games for the first time since opening the season with three straight wins.

"There's a lot we can improve on," Boudreau said. "And we will. So far, it's a great start."

Nylander scored just four seconds after Bret Hedican was sent off for interference to give the Capitals a 3-0 lead with 8:30 remaining in the second period.

It was Nylander's sixth goal of the season.

"Sometimes you get scoring chances and they don't go in. Sometimes you play terrible and you score," Nylander said.

"We've just got to keep believing we have a strong power play."

Ovechkin added his second tally of the night with 1:50 remaining in the third period to give Washington a 4-2 lead. The phenom has 16 goals - and seven in the past eight games.

Hurricanes goalie John Grahame was clearly in awe of Ovechkin.

"He's got a tremendous shot. At that stage of the game, you have to come up with a save to keep it interesting to see if the guys can tie it up 3-3," Grahame said. "Anytime you give a talented player space, he's going to do something good with it."

There was a huge difference in the atmosphere around the Capitals. The players seemed energized with the coaching change - and so far they like playing for Boudreau.

"We feel he's not panicking," Ovechkin said. "He came here to tell us to play hard, win battles, show that we don't think about losing. Just think about wins."

Boyd Gordon scored an empty-net goal with 39 seconds remaining to cap the scoring.

Nylander set up Mike Green's goal to open the scoring just over three minutes into the first period. Nylander alertly fed the defenseman, who beat Grahame just 15 seconds after Hedican received a hooking penalty.

It was Green's fifth goal of the season.

Hedican wasn't pleased to be reminded that his team gave up two goals while he was in the penalty box.

"They scored two power-play goals. What do you want me to say?" Hedican said. "You've got to shut their power play down to win games."

Ovechkin's first goal was set up by Nylander, who backhanded a pass to the Russian superstar for the power-play goal. The tally gave the Capitals a 2-0 lead with just 6:17 expired in the session.

Erik Cole put the Hurricanes on the scoreboard with just nine seconds remaining in the second period. Cole's tally - his fourth of the season - broke up goaltender Olaf Kolzig's bid for a second shutout against the Hurricanes. The netminder blanked Carolina, 2-0, on October 6.

Ray Whitney scored 2:09 into the third period to cut the deficit to 3-2, but the Hurricanes would not get another one past Kolzig, who finished with 35 saves.

The Washington netminder tried to caution his teammates about getting over confident.

"All it is is undoing what we've put ourselves in over the last two, three weeks," Kolzig said. "We're far from anything to get excited about."

Carolina coach Peter Laviolette didn't fault his team's effort, but felt they simply got in too big a hole.

"I don't know if you're asking too much," Laviolette said. "You're down three at that point. You either go home - or you fight for it. We fought for it, but the guys came up short."

Grahame had 29 saves for Carolina.