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Gordon caps comeback as Capitals edge Penguins

Oct 17, 2008 - 3:53 AM PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins had their power play clicking early. But the Washington Capitals had everything clicking late.

Boyd Gordon capped a three-goal outburst in the third period with 4:16 remaining as the Capitals netted four unanswered tallies en route to a 4-3 triumph over the Penguins on Thursday.

Tomas Fleischmann, Alexander Semin and Michael Nylander each recorded a tally and an assist for the Capitals, who have scored at least four goals in each of their four games this season.

"I don't know if it's a statement game per say, but I think it's the identity of our team - no matter what happens, we don't quit," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "In four games, we have been down early and we've got to find a way to get out of that habit. It's awful nice to believe that you can come back."

Defenseman Alex Goligoski, Evgeni Malkin and Miroslav Satan netted power-play goals for Pittsburgh, which fell to 7-1-1 in its last nine home meetings with Washington.

"We didn't do the little things it takes to win hockey games," Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. "Even when you have the lead, if you don't play the right way, it's going to cost you, and we learned a tough lesson there."

The Penguins took advantage of the Capitals' penchant for taking penalties to build a 3-0 lead less than 22 minutes into the contest. Goligoski opened the scoring with 7:02 left in the first period, firing a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle during a man advantage that caromed off goaltender Jose Theodore's right leg and into the net.

Malkin doubled the lead with 43 seconds to go in the session, when his wrist shot from the top of the slot deflected off defenseman Milan Jurcina and past Theodore, and Satan pushed a loose puck across the goal line during a 5-on-3 advantage just 1:51 into the middle period for a three-goal bulge.

But Fleischmann began Washington's comeback less than four minutes later, backhanding a shot past netminder Marc-Andre Fleury from the slot at 5:45 for his first goal of the campaign.

"At the end of the second, we said, 'Listen, as bad as we are, we are still in the game. It's one of those games, and we are still in the game,'" Boudreau said.

Semin drew the Capitals within 3-2 at 3:38 of the third with his fourth tally, and Nylander forged a tie with exactly 10 minutes remaining, converting a cross-slot pass by Fleischmann for his second goal.

"Anything's possible as long as we've got a goal and got some confidence in ourselves," Nylander said. "If we get our skates under us, we can play good hockey, and we were strong in the third period."

"We didn't play our best the first two periods," Fleischmann added. "We played better in the third. Today, that was enough for us. I think they just let down."

While the officials did not immediately recognize it, Gordon put Washington in front with less than five minutes to go, when his snap shot rang off the bar in the back of the net and quickly bounced back into play. No goal was signaled and play continued for another 83 seconds before a stoppage occurred.

"I was just hoping for a quick whistle and get it reviewed," Gordon said. "I had a good feeling it was in. ... The ice was bad, so I just tried to get a shot on goal and I beat him high glove (side)."

After a brief review by the replay officials, Gordon was awarded his first goal of the season, giving the Capitals a 4-3 edge.

"I had a feeling. I shot it and it kind of sounded dead off the back bar there, so I had a pretty good hunch they were going to count it," Gordon said. "Fortunately, they went upstairs and it was in. ... We asked the guy behind the bench there and he said it was in, so it was a big goal and a great win for us against a very good team."

"Unacceptable," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said of his team squandering a three-goal lead. "It's pretty simple. We played pretty well the first two periods. Immature and unacceptable. We lost the game because we stopped working in the third period. We didn't follow the plan in the third. We played on our heels, we were losing battles."

Crosby agreed with his coach on the team's effort in the third period.

"They were just throwing everything at the net, trying to create as much as they could because they hadn't got a lot of shots up to that point," Crosby said. "Whether we started to scramble because of that or that was a result of the way we played, who knows, but we didn't play the right way."

Billed as a showdown between the last two Hart Trophy winners, neither Crosby nor Alex Ovechkin scored a goal. Crosby, who was the league MVP in 2007, recorded two assists, while Ovechkin - last season's winner - was kept off the scoresheet.

"Obviously, (Ovechkin) is a great player, but he's got a pretty good supporting cast there, too," Crosby said. "It's one of those things where everyone chipped in for them."