Vancouver Canucks beat Washington Capitals 4-2
Daniel Sedin scored the game-winner in the second period and tallied an empty-netter in the final period, as the Vancouver Canucks notched a 4-2 victory over the Washington Capitals at Verizon Centre on Friday night.
Christian Ehrhoff and Alexander Edler each netted a goal and an assist for Vancouver, whose loss to the New York Rangers on Thursday, halted a run of 17 play-offs (14-0-3) without a drop in regulation. Roberto Luongo was also strong with 25 saves in his
side’s win.
Vancouver Coach Alain Vigneault praised the spirit displayed by his team. He said, "I thought our defence played really well tonight. Coming off back-to-back nights we needed a good night from our defence because this is a high-scoring team we faced here.
I thought tonight we played real strong 5-of-5 and got a power-play goal. We found a way to get it done."
Matt Hendricks and Marcus Johansson each registered a goal for Washington, who have lost three consecutive games, and four of their last five. Semyon Varlamov yielded three goals on 34 shots.
Washington head coach Bruce Boudreau criticized his side’s defensive approach. He said, "We haven't been through something like this in a while. In the third period we played better, but they played with more passion than we did. We were playing not to lose
and that never wins games."
Washington held the opening lead of the game in the sixth minute of the first period, when Hendricks was sprung on a mini-breakaway and snapped a wrist shot under the left arm of Luongo. Defenseman Karl Alzner earned the first assist on Hendricks' fifth
goal of the season.
Then the Canucks’ defence went to work. They levelled the score in ninth minute of the first period. Edler received a pass from Jannik Hansen and one-timed it past the Capitals netminder for his fifth goal of the season.
The Canucks then took a 2-1 lead in fourth minute of the second period. Skating on a power-play, Ehrhoff received a pass from Ryan Kesler and slapped a shot from the high slot through the pads of the goaltender. Edler earned his second assist for Ehrhoff’s
seventh goal of the season goal.
An excited Ehrhoff described the goal after the match. He said, "I had an open lane and just got it on net really hard and I guess I shot it through him."
Sedin gave Vancouver a two-goal edge at 3-1 in the 16th minute of the middle period. The play was set up when Jannik Hansen swept the disc away from Capitals winger Jason Chimera to Sedin in the neutral zone. Sedin then skated in alone and buried a wrist
shot past Varlamov for his 26th of the 2010-11 season.
Washington then cut the deficit to make it a one-goal game midway through the final period. Nicklas Backstrom slipped a cross-ice pass from the left to the right face-off circle, where Johansson one-timed it into the open net.
Varlamov was pulled in the last minute for an extra attacker, but Sedin added an empty-net goal with 42 seconds left to seal the game at 4-2.
Tags: