OTTAWA -- The Washington Capitals are still looking for their first road victory of the season.
But last night's 5-5 tie against the Ottawa Senators easily could have been a loss.
There were only 24 seconds remaining in regulation time -- with goalie Byron Dafoe pulled for an extra skater -- when Caps forward Dimitri Khristich scored his second goal to tie the score in a wild, five-goal third period.
Then, with less than two minutes remaining in overtime, Ottawa appeared to win it again when Troy Murray deflected a puck past Dafoe. But the goal was disallowed, referee Don Koharski ruling that Murray's stick was above his shoulders when he batted it while on his knees.
"We dodged a bullet," said Washington coach Jim Schoenfeld, blaming a combination of sedentary defensive play and average goaltending for the Capitals' failure to hold a 3-2 lead entering the third period.
"We felt pretty good going into the second intermission," said Mark Tinordi, who gave Washington a short-lived 4-4 tie at 16:24 of the third period. "We haven't won a whole lot of games, but we knew if we played our system they weren't going to get too many scoring chances."
"As it happened it didn't turn out that way, but it was still nice to fight back at the end."
Washington threatened to score the game-winner with less than 30 seconds left in overtime. But goaltender Don Beaupre, playing his first game against his former team since being traded in January, foiled Steve Konowalchuk from close range.
"I had two chances to make late saves and didn't get either one," said Beaupre, diverting the attention to what he didn't do on a night he had 29 saves.
"It's always good to have bragging rights, but that's about where it ends," added Beaupre. "We needed two points and they needed two points and neither team got it."
The tie left Washington (3-9-3) winless on the road this season, but ahead of Ottawa (2-9-3) for last place overall in the NHL standings.
The Senators got a huge three-goal game from center Alexei Yashin, back from being benched in his previous game for
inconsistent play.
They also got a two-goal, third-period performance by captain Randy Cunneyworth, who was scoreless entering the game.
Tinordi, Sylvain Cote and Dave Poulin also scored for the Capitals, who converted two of six power-play opportunities and also scored once short-handed.
Cunneyworth backhanded a rebound beyond a sprawled Dafoe (23 saves), making just his fourth start of the season, to put Ottawa ahead 5-4 at 18:58.
But at 19:36 Khristich took a puck at the left lip of the crease and put it over the glove of Beaupre.
The Capitals seemed to take control of the game when a Senators five-minute power play went sour late in the second period.
Capitals right wing Keith Jones was banished with a game misconduct after high-sticking Pat Elynuik at 13:39 of the period. But the Senators could generate only one shot on goal, and surrendered a short-handed goal to Poulin three minutes into the man advantage.
However, Yashin converted the third of three passes, after defenseman Sean Hill just managed to keep the puck in at the blue line, to tie the game at 3.
The goal came on the power play at 8:32, to give Yashin his eighth goal of the year and second hat trick of his career.
The teams exchanged goals as Cunneyworth scored on a
backhand at 10:25, and Tinordi poked the puck past Beaupre at 16:24.