| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
NEW YORK (AP) -- The Washington Capitals are moving closer to the New Jersey Devils for the most points in the Eastern Conference.
Jeff Halpern scored two short-handed goals, and Olaf Kolzig made 27 saves to lead the Capitals to a 4-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night.
|  | | Washington's Rob Zettler give New York's Mike York a free ride back to the bench. |
With the victory, Washington's 10th in its last 13 games, the Capitals have 92 points -- three behind the Devils.
"We said when we were nine points back that we set our sights on New Jersey, and now we've gotten within three," Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "Obviously they're worried with the way things have happened in New Jersey today. We just have to continue to play our game and get points."
The Devils, who lead the Eastern Conference with 95 points, fired coach Robbie Ftorek on Thursday. New Jersey has lost 10 of its last 16, and assistant Larry Robinson was promoted to take Ftorek's place.
Adam Oates had a goal to extend his scoring streak to eight games, and Chris Simon also scored for the Capitals. Washington has the NHL's best record since Jan. 1 at 27-7-5.
New York is 1-4-1 in its last six as the team's playoff hopes slip further with each loss.
"It gets depressing. It gets frustrating," Rangers defenseman Mathieu Schneider. "We're forced into taking chances. We were down the last three or four games in the last five or six minutes and you press too much."
Kolzig was brilliant, making tough saves on Tim Taylor and Brian Leetch at the end of 3-on-1 breaks and robbing Leetch on a power-play point shot with less than six minutes remaining.
Simon gave Washington a 1-0 lead at 8:05 of the first period with his 28th goal of the season. Simon took a pass from Glen Metropolit in the left corner and wristed a shot from 10 feet out that beat Rangers goalie Kirk McLean high to the stick side.
York tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 10:33 of the second. Adam Graves gained control of the puck along the boards and sent it behind the net to Theoren Fleury, who fed York for a close-range one-timer. York leads all rookies with 25 goals.
The assist was Graves' 479th for the Rangers, moving him past Camille Henry into 11th place on New York's career points list.
Oates took a pass out from behind the net by Joe Murphy at 15:45 of the second period and stuffed it past McLean to put the Capitals ahead for good with his 14th goal at 2-1.
Oates has two goals and 10 assists during his streak, and the Capitals are 10-2-1 in their last 13 games.
Halpern made it 3-1 with a short-handed goal at 15:10 of the third period, then added an empty-net short-handed goal at 19:01 to seal it.
"We gave up a power-play goal early and I was on the ice for that so it's nice to get that back," Halpern said. "Short-handed goals are always special, even into the empty net."
| |
ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Washington Clubhouse
NY Rangers Clubhouse
RECAPS
Florida 3
Boston 1
Buffalo 4
Calgary 2
Ottawa 3
Toronto 2
Los Angeles 3
Philadelphia 2
Washington 4
NY Rangers 1
Detroit 6
Nashville 3
Colorado 4
Phoenix 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Chris Simon gives the Caps a 1-0 lead.
avi: 693 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
|
