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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Inspired by an emotional pregame ceremony and determined to avoid their first losing streak since mid-December, the Washington Capitals cranked up the intensity Saturday night against the New Jersey Devils.
The result was a 4-2 victory that thrust the Capitals back into first place in the Southeast Division.
|  | | Capitals goalie Olaf Kolzig stopped 33 New Jersey shots for his 33rd win of the season. |
Ulf Dahlen scored the tiebreaking goal with 18:18 left and Olaf Kolzig stopped 33 shots as the Capitals effectively rebounded from a rare loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday.
"Obviously this is a nice win," said Kolzig, whose outstanding performance included stopping a penalty shot. "We didn't want to get into any kind of losing streak. Even though New Jersey is a very good team, you lose this one and all of a sudden things can snowball."
Newcomer Deron Quint and rookie Scott Gomez scored for the Devils, who outshot the Capitals 35-20. New Jersey, now 1-3 against Washington, got both its goals in the opening 8:02.
"I thought we were on all cylinders, but they played a great game," Devils coach Robbie Ftorek said.
The Capitals scored on their first two shots, then went more than 36 minutes without a goal before Dahlen skated to the bottom of the right circle and sent a wrist shot between the legs of goalie Martin Brodeur.
Steve Konowalchuk scored into an empty net with 37 seconds left.
Before the game, Dale Hunter had his number retired by the Capitals in a 10-minute ceremony during which his No. 32 was raised to the rafters of the MCI Center. The sellout crowd had barely settled down when Washington got the fans back out of their seats by scoring twice in the opening 4:31.
Chris Simon got his 24th goal at 3:26 after Adam Oates sent him a centering pass from behind the net, and Joe Murphy quickly added his 10th from between the circles.
"We came out real excited from Dale's thing," defenseman Ken Klee said.
The Capitals are 6-1-1 in their last eight games, 24-6-6 since Dec. 22 and 14-1-3 in their last 18 at home. The stretch enabled Washington to catch, and pass, the Florida Panthers in the Southeast.
"I was concerned about the possibility of us losing two straight," Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. "I mean, it's not hard to take a loss to Philadelphia or New Jersey, but I was glad we were able to refocus and come back with a good effort."
After allowing two quick goals, Brodeur buckled down and kept the Capitals at bay.
"You give up two goals like that, you just have to let it go and concentrate on saving the third one," he said. "We had a lot of time to come back."
Quint, acquired from Phoenix on March 7 and making his debut with the Devils, made it 2-1 at 5:09 by beating Kolzig with a shot from the left side of the crease. Gomez tied it with his 18th goal.
New Jersey's Jay Pandolfo had a breakaway late in the period with Washington on the power play, but Kolzig stood his ground and cast aside the shot.
A similar scenario occurred midway in the second period. Sergei Nemchinov stole the puck in his own end and was awarded a penalty shot after being pulled down from behind by Sergei Gonchar at the end of a breakaway. Kolzig proved to be just enough of an obstacle, as Nemchinov hit the left post on the penalty shot.
"He didn't have much net to shoot from there," Kolzig said. "I made myself big in the net and forced the guy to shoot wide. I knew he was going to shoot because the ice was horrendous and there was no way he could deke it."
New Jersey has the best record in the Eastern Conference but has only three wins in its last 12 games.
"We are not playing the way we would like," center Bobby Holik said. "We're not quite where we want to be, but we still have 13 or 14 games to get there."
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
New Jersey Clubhouse
Washington Clubhouse
Hunter only third Capitals player to have number retired
 Morganti: Hunter rightly honored
RECAPS
Anaheim 1
St. Louis 1
Boston 5
Montreal 3
Toronto 4
Ottawa 2
Washington 4
New Jersey 2
Chicago 5
Florida 2
Pittsburgh 3
NY Rangers 1
Phoenix 5
Vancouver 0
Los Angeles 3
Calgary 1
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Scott Gomez fires the puck past Olav Kolzig.
avi: 449 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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