WASHINGTON - The Washington Capitals entered last night's game against the Atlanta Thrashers with everything to prove. They had lost in Atlanta five days ago to a team that was - at the time - the worst in the NHL.
Then they surprised many people by beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, a playoff-caliber team, with one of their best performances of the season.
Last night at MCI Center, the Capitals' Michael Nylander scored the game-winning goal in overtime for an unlikely 7-6 victory that left the team and its coach still searching for answers.
"I'm beyond startled," said Caps coach Bruce Cassidy, who had hoped for another tight-checking game that would limit the opposing team's chances, but saw something completely different as his team gave up odd-man rushes and multiple chances.
"We're unpredictable at best," he said. "But we won and that's the bottom line. We came back. We got away from the defense that we played in Pittsburgh and need to play. ... We can't play one way one night and another way the next. I hope we start to recognize how success came."
Washington (12-13-2) has now won two straight but is 4-7-1 in its past 12 games. The Caps play again tonight in Buffalo, where they begin a five-game road trip. Atlanta, meanwhile, is 7-7-1 since starting the season 0-8-0.
"We didn't play real well tonight as a team," said Nylander. "But we played a good third period and came out with a 'W'. We need to win. We can't think about what we did the game before or what we have to do three games down the road. We just have to concentrate on each game."
The Capitals were playing with Craig Billington in the net because their No. 1 goalie, Olie Kolzig, strained a groin muscle during warm-ups last night.
Kolzig said he hopes to be ready tonight, but the Caps called up rookie goalie Sebastian Charpentier from the Portland Pirates of the American Hockey League just in case.
After allowing Atlanta's Dany Heatley to score on a 2-on-1 counter attack, the Caps' Peter Bondra broke out of a 13-game scoring draught that dated to Nov. 9. Bondra scored two goals, tying the game at 1-1 in the first period, and then giving Washington a brief 2-1 lead with a power-play goal 1:53 into the second.
The game got ugly after that. Caps right wing Mike Grier inadvertently tied the game for Atlanta, when Ilya Kovalchuk's shot on a 5-on-3 power play bounced into the net off his stick as he tried to clear it. Only moments later, Frantisek Kaberle scored from just inside the blue line and then Kovalchuk scored again. The three goals came in a 2:48 period and burdened the Caps with a 4-2 deficit.
But the Caps kept coming back. Steve Konowalchuk, the team captain, scored the game-tying goal with just 28 seconds to go.
Atlanta 1 4 1 0 - 6
Washington 1 2 3 1 - 7
First period - 1, Atlanta, Heatley 8 (Kovalchuk), 8:29. 2, Washington, Bondra 9 (Lang, Sutherby), 16:29. Penalties - McEachern, Atl (goalie interference), 1:54; Cowen, Atl (holding), 10:08; Bondra, Was (goalie interference), 12:18; Witt, Was, major (fighting), 15:36; Cowen, Atl, major (fighting), 15:36. Second period - 3, Washington, Bondra 10 (Nylander, Lang), 1:53 (pp). 4, Atlanta, Kovalchuk 15, 4:03 (pp). 5, Atlanta, Kaberle 3 (McEachern, Hartigan), 5:30. 6, Atlanta, Kovalchuk 16 (Heatley, Sutton), 6:51. 7, Washington, Jagr 14 (Miller), 8:58 (sh). 8, Atlanta, Kovalchuk 17, 15:03. Penalties - Hrkac, Atl (hooking), 1:17; Konowalchuk, Was (hooking), 3:00; Klee, Was (high-sticking), 3:19; Johansson, Was (holding stick), 7:16; Tjarnqvist, Atl (holding), 9:40; Sutherby, Was (holding), 13:45; Berry, Was, major (fighting), 13:45; Rheaume, Atl, major (fighting), 13:45; Trombley, Atl (holding), 14:48. Third period - 9, Washington, Lang 8 (Bondra, Doig), 6:38. 10, Atlanta, Sutton 2 (Heatley, Kaberle), 7:52 (pp). 11, Washington, Johansson 2 (Konowalchuk, Grier), 17:54. 12, Washington, Konowalchuk 5 (Lang, Gonchar), 19:32. Penalties - Nylander, Was (high-sticking), 6:52; Sutton, Atl (holding), 12:08; Kovalchuk, Atl (diving), 15:51. Overtime-13, Washington, Nylander 7 (Gonchar, Jagr), 2:24. Penalties - None. Shots on goal - Atlanta 13-14-6-1-34. Washington 11-7-9-3-30. Power-play opportunities - Atlanta 2 of 6; Washington 1 of 7. Goalies - Atlanta, Dafoe 2-3-0 (30 shots-23 saves). Washington, Billington 1-3-1 (34-28). A - 14,022 (18,277).