Leading The Pack
Anaheim, CA – The Washington Capitals didn’t get off to an ideal start to their five-game trip, but they were more than happy to take one point in the opener.
The Southeast Division-leading Caps look to continue earning points during this rough road stretch when they take on the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.
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Washington (10-4-3) had its five-game winning streak snapped Saturday at New Jersey in a 6-5 shootout loss, but the Caps were fortunate to get that far. Alex Ovechkin’s goal with 1 second remaining sent the game to overtime.
"You look for positives,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. "We showed character in never quitting and we had an awful lot of chances to quit and die, because we made a ton of mistakes out there, but we ended up getting a point."
One of those positives was the performance of Ovechkin, who continued to come on after a slow start. He finished with two goals and an assist and extended his goal streak to four games.
"Everybody seemed to go down and I just waited to see what was going to happen," Ovechkin, who has five goals and five assists during his streak, said of the tying score. "I didn’t try to do anything but shoot the puck, and celebrate."
Ovechkin did plenty of celebrating in Washington’s last visit to Anaheim on Jan. 13, 2006, when he recorded a hat trick in a 3-2 overtime victory.
Nicklas Backstrom added a goal and four assists Saturday for his first career five-point game. The second-year center, who turns 21 on Sunday, has two goals and 10 assists during a five-game point streak and is tied with Alexander Semin with a team-best 14 assists.
Semin, second in the NHL with 27 points, missed Saturday’s game after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury in Friday’s 3-1 win over the Devils. He’s questionable for Wednesday.
Besides games against the Devils and Ducks, the Capitals‘ road trip includes matchups with NHL-leading San Jose and Minnesota.
Anaheim (10-7-2) looks for back-to-back home wins before playing five of seven on the road. The Ducks earned their first two-point night in nearly two weeks Sunday, defeating Los Angeles 2-0.
Anaheim will be concluding a season-high six-game stretch at Honda Center. The Ducks had lost three in a row during the homestand, which included a four-day break, before the win over the Kings.
Jonas Hiller picked up his first career shutout with 29 saves as Anaheim blanked Los Angeles for the second time in 13 days.
"I’m happy that it finally worked out. It’s a great feeling," said Hiller, who has a 2.18 goals-against average in four starts this season. "I mean, at the end, they count as team wins, but for sure it’s a great feeling for a goalie to get a shutout."
Jean-Sebastien Giguere, who allowed 11 goals during the Ducks’ losing streak, has a 1.39 GAA and two shutouts in five career starts against Washington.
The Caps have been blanked twice while losing six of their past eight games in Anaheim.
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Posted: 11/18/08 11:25 PM ET
