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Ovechkin carries Capitals past Panthers

Feb 16, 2009 - 3:13 AM SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- All-Star Alex Ovechkin netted a hat trick and Jose Theodore made 29 saves to lead the Washington Capitals to a 4-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday.

The reigning Hart Trophy winner, Ovechkin scored twice in the final three minutes to record his eighth career hat trick and raise his league-leading goal total to 41.

Eric Fehr also scored for the Capitals, recording his tally 30 seconds into the middle session to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead.

Mike Green's NHL-record goal streak for defensemen ended at eight games. Green set the new mark against Tampa Bay on Saturday and had a chance to extend it Sunday, but Tomas Vokoun saved his one-timer from the slot in the second period.

Rookie Michael Frolik and Nathan Horton scored for the Panthers, who saw their three-game winning streak come to an end.

Washington improved to 9-2-2 in its last 13 games and leads second-place Florida by 13 points in the Southeast Division.

"This was a very important game for us," Ovechkin said. "We don't want to give them any chance to feel like they can catch us (in the standings)."

Ovechkin gave Washington a 1-0 lead with 4:22 left in the first period. With the Capitals on the power play, Ovechkin skimmed a wrist shot along the ice and beat Vokoun with the help of a screen by Brooks Laich.

"I tried using my speed and my body to get the most I can behind the shot. There's a little luck involves sometimes," Ovechkin said.

Ovechkin's second goal came with 2:31 to go when he wristed a shot through the legs of All-Star defenseman Jay Bouwmeester that also went between Vokoun's pads. Ovechkin capped the scoring with an empty-net goal from along the boards near the top of the right faceoff circle.

"He's been pretty explosive. He's one of those guys who seems to always get off a good shot regardless of where he is on the ice," Bouwmeester said. "When you have a great player like that, the puck finds it way in when it shouldn't sometimes and that (third goal) was one of those cases."

"My stick was broken on that last goal, by the way, but it still managed to go in," Ovechkin said. "That's the kind of night it was."

Frolik cut the Washington lead to 2-1 just over 12 minutes into the second period with a shot that beat Theodore over the right shoulder.

Horton scored a power-play goal during a scramble in front of the net just 89 seconds into the third.

"We did have some chances. It was definitely a tough loss, we were right there," Horton said. "It's a matter of capitalizing on our chances and tonight we didn't do that. It's hard to come away with nothing but we have tough games coming up so we can't dwell on it."