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Fisher ends drought, leads Senators over Capitals

Nov 5, 2008 - 4:44 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- The Ottawa Senators could not have asked for Mike Fisher to score his first goal of the season at a better time.

Fisher tallied with 40 seconds remaining in overtime, leading the Senators to a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals on Tuesday.

After recording his first point in 10 games this season with an assist in the second period, Fisher converted a nifty pass from captain Daniel Alfredsson for his initial goal of the campaign. The 28-year-old scored a career-high 23 tallies in 2007-08.

"It feels pretty good to finally get one, and to get it in overtime and contribute a little bit more than I have been," Fisher said.

"Fisher was really good, obviously, but he's had other nights like that this season," Senators coach Craig Hartsburg said. "Tonight, he got rewarded for it. He skated well, he competed hard all night and did a lot of good things for us."

Dany Heatley extended his goal-scoring streak to four games and Alfredsson notched a pair of assists for Ottawa, which halted a three-game skid at home.

"It certainly boosts our confidence to win like that in our building," Hartsburg said. "Tonight, we played a full 64 minutes. If that's what it takes every night, then that's how we'll have to do it. I thought everybody played well and everybody contributed and played hard, so it's a good win."

Alex Auld made 26 saves for the Senators, who failed to score a special-teams goal for the first time in 12 contests this season.

"If there's one part of the game we didn't like, it was probably our power play," Hartsburg said. "We didn't get it up the ice with enough speed and we didn't put enough pucks on the net or create enough traffic with the man advantage. I think that showed."

Hartsburg was pleased with the play of Auld, however.

"I thought Auld was solid," Hartsburg said. "He made a few big saves for us. He's big in the net and he was poised. That's what we need from our goaltender in order to win."

"I felt good tonight," said Auld, who improved to 3-0-1 in his last four games. "I try not to think too much about the time or the score. I just play the game that comes to me and try to make the saves I need to. Their goalie was tremendous at the other end, but the guys kept pushing and finally they were able to get one at the end."

Tomas Fleischmann tallied and Brent Johnson turned aside 42 shots for Washington, which welcomed back superstar Alex Ovechkin to the lineup.

"It's difficult to play to a tie for 64 minutes like that and then lose it. Losing is never easy, but that one stings," Johnson said. "They have a lot of firepower and we did a good job keeping them off the scoresheet, for the most part. Unfortunately, they got a big one with 40 seconds to go in OT, and that was the game."

The reigning Hart Trophy winner, Ovechkin had missed the team's previous two games while visiting his ailing grandfather in his native Russia.

"It wasn't my best game, but I had some jump when I needed it," said Ovechkin, who did not record a point. "Sometimes there are nights like that."

"I thought Alex looked good out there," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "He looked like a hockey player who was glad to be back on the ice. Unfortunately, the scoresheet doesn't reflect the effort he put forth. But that guy does that every time he goes out there. He works as hard as anybody in the game. Tonight, it just didn't pay off for him as it does on most nights."

Entering with a 1-4-1 mark at home, the Senators nearly got on the board early. But Johnson kept the game scoreless by making a superb poke-check on Alfredsson as the Swede came in on a breakaway less than four minutes into the contest.

Johnson was not as fortunate in the early stages of the second session, however.

After serving a tripping penalty, Ottawa's lone infraction of the game, Heatley exited the box and received a pass from Fisher at the Capitals' blue line. Racing in alone, Heatley deked Johnson to the ice before stuffing the puck inside the left goalpost at 1:13 for his eighth tally of the season.

But the lead did not last long as Washington, which had won seven of the previous nine meetings between the teams - including all four last season, pulled even just 2:13 later.

From the slot, Alexander Semin dished the puck to Fleischmann at the bottom of the left faceoff circle. After cutting to the doorstep, the Czech put a backhander past Auld for his fourth goal and a 1-1 tie.

Neither team was able to snap the deadlock until the waning moments of overtime. Defenseman Filip Kuba made a pass from the right point to Alfredsson, who dished it across the slot to Fisher for his game-winning snap shot.

"It's great to see Fisher score the winner," Auld said. "He's been doing a great job shutting down other teams' top lines the last few games and he gets rewarded with a big goal."

"It's just one goal, and I have lots of work to do," Fisher said. "I've been trying to be a little more hungry in front of the net, and tonight, my linemates played really well."

By helping set up the goal, Kuba raised his assists and points total to 14 - tops in both categories among NHL defensemen.