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Semin helps Capitals sweep Senators

Jan 16, 2008 - 4:36 AM By Tim Hipps PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Washington Capitals continued to play catch-up by completing a four-game season series sweep of the second-best team in hockey on Tuesday night.

Alexander Semin had two goals and one assist to lead the Capitals to a 4-2 victory over the Eastern Conference-leading Ottawa Senators.

An unassisted goal by Semin at 15:26 of the second period tied the score at 2-2. His ninth tally of the season gave the Capitals a 4-2 lead at 11:56 of the third.

"He was more determined tonight," said Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau, who said Semin "was too cute with the puck and trying to do too much" during the Capitals' 6-4 loss to the Flyers on Sunday. "Sometimes when you don't have a great game and you lose, it's not the coaches but the teammates that you're embarrassed about, so you play harder the next game to show them you are a real viable player on the team.

"I think that was something that he did. He knew he was not great against Philly, and he gave a couple pucks away. He was determined tonight."

Alex Ovechkin's 34th goal of the season snapped the 2-2 tie. The Russian superstar collected the long rebound of a shot by Brooks Laich and launched a shot from the left circle that bounced off the leg of Senators goaltender Ray Emery for the game-winner.

"I just tried to shoot as hard as I can," said Ovechkin, whose sizzling shot resembled a knuckleball that found the net. "And it's in."

Tomas Fleischmann assisted on both third-period goals for Washington, which swept Ottawa in their season series for the first time since 1995-96.

"They forecheck real hard, power play's pretty good and their star is the star most nights," Senators coach John Paddock said.

The Capitals are the only team in the NHL that has defeated the Senators in regulation more than once this season.

"It's important for us to beat a great team to be successful," Ovechkin said. "But it doesn't matter what team, we just need the points. We win the game, we take the points, we're happy."

Ottawa, however, did not go quietly.

Dean McAmmond and Wade Redden scored second-period goals in a span of 1:22 to give the Senators a 2-1 lead. McAmmond redirected a shot by Andrej Meszaros for a 1-1 tie at 13:41 of the period. Captain Daniel Alfredsson also assisted on the play, giving the All-Star at least one point in 11 straight games and leaving him two assists shy of 500 for his career.

Redden punched home an airborne puck that flew off the sticks of Patrick Eaves and Chris Kelly during a scrum in front of the Capitals' net for a 2-1 lead at 15:03 of the second period.

"They just came up the ice and scored two quick goals, and then we got back into our game mode," Boudreau said. "Our power play finally started to play."

Twenty-three seconds later, Semin stole a pass, skated in on Emery and banged home his eighth goal of the season for a 2-2 tie.

"It was sick move," Ovechkin said. "It was a very important goal. They score goals and then we score right away. The team doesn't give up. That Semin line - mostly Semin - win game tonight."

"That's Alex," said Mike Green of Semin's move. "He can dangle and be an inch from the net and put it top corner. He's very skilled."

Green's power-play goal 47 seconds into the second period gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Viktor Kozlov fed a cross-ice pass through the crease to Green, who fired a shot over Emery's left shoulder. Semin also assisted on Green's 13th tally of the season.

"Because they're a good team, we get excited to play them," Green said. "And then feel rewarded when we win. That builds confidence that's going to lead into the next couple of games."

Washington, which learned that center Michael Nylander - the team's second-leading scorer - will undergo shoulder surgery Wednesday that could end his season, had another scare in the opening 30 seconds of the game.

Christopher Neil plowed over Capitals goalie Brent Johnson, who was above the top of the crease. Johnson was down on the ice for about a minute shaking off the cobwebs before getting up to make 26 saves.

"He came by and got me with an elbow," Johnson said. "My head's still a little foggy and I'm going to need some Excedrin tonight, but other than that, I thought in the first period we did a tremendously fantastic job. And in the second period we did the same thing, pretty much. They got a couple of weird goals, but all in all I thought we played unbelievably fantastic on defense."