Ottawa, ON (Sports Network) - Brent Johnson turned aside all 46 shots he faced
for his first shutout of the season as Washington upset Ottawa, 1-0, at
Scotiabank Place.
Dainius Zubrus scored the lone goal of the game for the Capitals, which had
lost nine of their last 11 games prior to tonight's contest. Alexander
Ovechkin tallied an assist on the Zubrus goal, pushing his point streak to
eight games.
"We played very hard and it's a great win for our team and great for our
goalie," said Ovechkin. "We don't have any pressure and we just enjoy our time
right now. [Johnson] played very well today and he did a good job. I'm not
surprised that we won here."
Ray Emery stopped 31 shots for the Senators, who have lost three of four games
since clinching a playoff berth.
Ottawa, which currently holds the top spot in the Eastern Conference with 105
points, failed to extend its lead on second-place Carolina, which lost to
Atlanta Saturday.
After a scoreless first period, Zubrus scored the only goal of the game with
52.1 seconds remaining in the second period.
While on the man advantage, Ovechkin fired a shot on net from the top of the
left of circle. Emery made the initial save, but Zubrus shoved in the rebound
off the goaltender's glove to give Washington the one-goal advantage.
Ottawa squandered three power-play chances in the second period, including a
5-on-3 midway through the stanza.
In the final period, the Senators peppered Johnson with 16 shots and had a man
advantage eight minutes into the period, but didn't get anything past Johnson,
who recorded the 13th shutout of his career.
"They are a young team that works really hard and tries to be a spoiler," said
Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson." We played well and had our chances and the
first goal was going to be big obviously and it didn't go our way."
