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Sunday, Jan. 30 1:00pm ET
Capitals' unbeaten streak reaches 11 | |||||
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Philadelphia Flyers held Washington to its lowest shot total in 41 games. It didn't matter. Defenseman Sergei Gonchar had a goal and an assist, and Olaf Kolzig made 30 saves to help the Capitals beat the Flyers 2-0 Sunday and extend the NHL's longest current unbeaten streak to 11 games.
"It was an unbelievable play by Andrei, the guy made a perfect pass right on my stick," Gonchar said. "Basically, all I had to do was touch it." The Capitals, who have won seven consecutive games at home, have been getting production from their defensemen on both ends of the ice. At least one Capitals defenseman has scored in five of their last six games, including Gonchar four times. "We're getting great goaltending, solid defense and timely goals," said Capitals' coach Ron Wilson. "Sergei Gonchar is playing as well as he ever has, and that has made a big difference." Steve Konowalchuk provided the insurance goal 6:31 later, when he redirected Gonchar's shot from the point. The puck caromed off of a Flyers player and hit Konowalchuk's stick. The goal was the 100th of his career. Olaf Kolzig was the difference for Washington. He enabled the Capitals to weather a barrage of early Flyers scoring opportunities and a season-low two shots by his own team in the first period. "It's always been bad-blood between these two teams. We knew it was going to be hard hitting and tight checking," Kolzig said. "I didn't think we would only have two shots at the end of the first period, but I thought we did a great job of taking advantage of the chances we had." Defensively, the Capitals were able to contain Philadelphia's big scoring threats. Eric Lindros, Jon LeClair and the recently acquired Keith Primeau were held to a combined eight shots. Washington's penalty-killing unit has not allowed a power-play goal at home since Jan. 16. Washington's unit killed off all three Flyers power-play opportunities. The Capitals were outshot 21-7 in the first two periods, and at the end of the second period had more penalty minutes than shots (8-7). Philadelphia has not won on the road in five games.
| ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Philadelphia Clubhouse Washington Clubhouse RECAPS Washington 2 Philadelphia 0 AUDIO/VIDEO Andrei Nikolishin feeds Sergei Gonchar, who scores. avi: 622 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1 |