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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- The Washington Capitals found a way to slow
down the Florida Panthers.
Richard Zednik scored two goals Wednesday night as the Capitals
won their sixth straight game and snapped the Panthers' six-game
winning streak with a 3-1 victory.
|  | | Washington's Jan Bulis hooks on for a ride while trailing Florida's Viktor Kozlov, right. |
The Capitals, 8-1-2 since Dec. 22, have won four straight road
contests.
"You had two hot teams coming in here, so it's nice to see that
we can match up against a team like that and win," Zednik said.
Zednik's goals, his 11th and 12th, came within a three-minute
stretch of the second period and snapped a 1-1 tie.
Sergei Gonchar and Jan Bulis each had a pair of assists for
Washington, the sixth-place team in the Eastern Conference.
"This was an excellent game, with great teamwork, right through
the whole lineup from the goalie on out," Washington coach Ron
Wilson said.
Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig stopped 29 shots to earn his
career-best sixth straight win.
"Everybody's committed to the team and to not letting each
other down," Wilson said. "The talk is all positive on the bench,
and if someone doesn't follow the plan, then the players are
managing the situation."
Florida, 16-4-2 at home, lost there for the first time since
Dec. 20.
"It was tough to get things going," Panthers defenseman Todd
Simpson said. "We weren't prepared as well as we should have. We
certainly weren't as prepared as Washington. We just didn't have
enough emotion."
Zednik's goals, his 11th and 12th, came within a three-minute
stretch of the second period and snapped a 1-1 tie.
"My season has been one of missed opportunities," Zednik said.
"I've had plenty of scoring chances, but I just haven't been
hitting on enough of them. I was beginning to think that nothing
was going to go in."
Florida's Ray Whitney scored his 19th goal, but the Capitals
kept the Panthers' primary weapon, Pavel Bure off the scoresheet.
"We didn't do anything special against Pavel," Wilson said.
"We didn't over play. We told the guys to stay in your area and
take him when he comes through, but then let the next guy take him,
and that seemed to work."
Whitney put Florida ahead 1-0 in the first, but the Capitals
tied the game at 9:41 on James Black's slap shot from the top of
the slot.
Zednik's power-play goal put Washington ahead 2-1 at 5:38 of the
second. He rebounded a miss by Gonchar and slipped it past Mike
Vernon.
Zednik scored again at 8:22, picking up the puck in the
left-faceoff circle and firing a wrist shot past Vernon, who made
17 saves.
"The guys made another great effort tonight," Kolzig said.
"We scored early enough to get some confidence going, and then we
kept chipping away. Everything is rolling our way right now."
The Panthers played their fifth game in eight days and seemed to
lack the quickness for which they're noted.
"We were back on our heels and they got a couple of goals,"
Florida coach Terry Murray said. "We just seemed to be standing
around watching and we never really recovered after that."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Washington Clubhouse
Florida Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 4
Atlanta 3
Washington 3
Florida 1
Montreal 3
NY Islanders 0
New Jersey 4
Chicago 1
Pittsburgh 3
St. Louis 1
San Jose 0
Colorado 0
Edmonton 7
Calgary 0
Detroit 3
Vancouver 3
Anaheim 3
Dallas 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 James Black lights the lamp for the Capitals.
avi: 699 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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