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WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Olaf Kolzig and the Washington Capitals continued their mastery of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Kolzig made 40 saves and three different players scored to lead the resurgent Capitals to their 11th straight home win over the Lightning, 3-0. In helping Washington return to the .500 mark for the first time since November 16, Kolzig turned aside 13 shots in the first and third periods and 14 in the second for the Capitals' first shutout of the season. He made a chest stop on Ben Clymer from point-blank range in the first period and got his right pad on Dave Andreychuk's wrist shot from the low slot in the second en route to his 28th career shutout. None have come against the Lightning, although Kolzig improved to 16-5-0 lifetime vs. the Southeast Division rivals. "They're a team that gets a lot of shots," Kolzig said. "The other night against Nashville, they got 40, too. A lot of the shots obviously were perimeter shots. There were a few breakaways they had in there, but all in all it was a good effort by our team." "I thought he played awesome, but that is no excuse," Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier said. "I had two breakaways and expect myself to score one, at least. He is a great goalie. I give him credit, of course. I should have read him." Steve Konowalchuk scored in the first period, Robert Lang padded the lead in the second and Peter Bondra shot into an empty net in the third as Washington stretched its unbeaten streak to a season-high four games (3-0-1). The Capitals climbed within three points of first-place Tampa Bay. "We gain another two points on them, we get to .500 and we actually go into Christmas feeling good about ourselves, which hasn't been the case in years past," Kolzig said. "I think we stand better now at this point than we have at any other point in any of the last four or five years. Things are starting to come together." Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 22 shots for the Lightning, who have scored just four goals during a four-game winless streak (0-2-2). "We are having problems putting the puck in the net," Tampa Bay coach John Tortorella said. "When you aren't scoring, the mistakes you make defensively are highlighted. We have to keep on playing, keep on forechecking and creating chances." Just under 5 1/2 minutes into the game, Jeff Halpern emerged from a four-man scrum with the puck along the right boards. He whipped a pass into the low slot, where Konowalchuk tapped it past Khabibulin for his eighth goal. "You're not always going to get the lead, but I think we're coming out and making the other team work a little harder, not giving them free plays and we seem to be getting the lead," Konowalchuk said. Lang made it 2-0 at 6:21 of the second period. He moved down the right side and held the puck as defenseman Cory Sarich slid by, then snapped a wrist shot off Khabibulin's left arm and the crossbar and into the net. "You can't play it that way," Tortorella said. "(Sarich) knew it as soon as he came to the bench. You have a right-hand shot coming down the right wing, you give the shooter to the goalie like we always do and like we've done all year long. He is just waiting for a move by the defenseman to open up something." Bondra capped the scoring with 17 seconds to play, netting his 14th goal. |
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