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Red-hot Green help Capitals top Panthers

Feb 8, 2009 - 5:23 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mike Green continues to be a force on the offensive end.

Green snapped a tie early in the third period and added a shorthanded empty-netter, leading the Washington Capitals to a 3-1 victory over the Florida Panthers on Saturday.

The 23-year-old Green, who leads all NHL blue-liners with 19 goals this season, has tallied in six consecutive games - extending the franchise record for a defenseman.

"Everything he's touching is turning to gold," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "I hope it doesn't end. He can play for 30 minutes and never look tired."

"I don't know, I hope so," Green said of the possibility of reaching the 30-goal mark. "Just keep playing and see what happens. I try not to think about it."

Eric Fehr also scored and Jose Theodore made 20 saves for the Capitals, who have won four of their last five contests and are preparing for a three-game road trip.

"You don't want things to spiral," Boudreau said. "The last thing we wanted to do was to give Florida any life."

Tomas Vokoun stopped 36 shots and blue-liner Keith Ballard netted the lone goal for the Panthers, who had won four of their previous five games.

With the contest knotted at 1-1, Green provided the game-winner 43 seconds into the final session during a power play.

All-Star Alex Ovechkin controlled the puck at the right point, faking a slap shot before sending a cross-ice pass to Green, who skated into the slot. Green then unleashed a wrist shot over Vokoun's glove and into the top corner of the net.

"I thought (Ovechkin) was going to shoot, but it was a good pass by him," Green said. "I saw one guy go down, so I knew I had to get it up."

"I picked up the puck too late when it was going by me. It was a good shot," Vokoun said. "Good players make good shots."

Washington finished the contest with nearly six minutes of stout penalty-killing, including 65 seconds at a two-man disadvantage. With Sergei Fedorov already in the penalty box, defenseman Shaone Morrisonn received a five-minute major and a game misconduct with 5:01 remaining for checking from behind.

"End of the game - that's all we can ask for," Florida All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester said. "We didn't do a whole lot."

"We had one shot in the five minutes we were on the power play," Vokoun added. "One shot in that five minutes. They must have done something right."

Despite the shorthanded situation, the Capitals allowed few opportunities, and Green sealed the win with 73 seconds left, launching a shot from the faceoff circle in his own zone into the vacant net at the other end of the ice.

"You know you're going to have to come up with one or two big saves," Theodore said. "We thought we played really well."

"We just didn't win any of the loose pucks," Florida coach Peter DeBoer said. "Any loose puck in the offensive zone, they either got to or they outbattled us. You're not going to score too many goals when that happens."

Washington opened the scoring 33 seconds into the contest, when Fehr took a pass from Tomas Fleischmann just inside the blue line and surprised Vokoun with a quick shot into the top corner of the net for his sixth goal of the season.

Florida answered just over eight minutes later as Ballard notched his fifth goal of the campaign. Former Capital Richard Zednik delivered a pass in the high slot to Ballard, who fired a one-timer past Theodore at 8:35 of the first period.