LANDOVER, Md. -- Jim Carey stopped 27 shots for his second consecutive shutout and Steve Konowalchuk and Kevin Kaminski scored 1:42 apart Sunday in the second period, leading theRon Hextall thinks Kevin Kaminski is invading his space. (23k jpg)
Washington Capitals to a 3-0
blanking of the Philadelphia Flyers.
Carey, who stopped 28 shots in a 2-0 shutout of the Boston Bruins on Saturday, moved into the league lead with his sixth shutout of the season. He needed to make just three saves in the opening period but turned aside 16 shots in the second period and eight in the third en route to his 10th career shutout.
"He (Carey) played a strong game, we got some good chances," Flyers winger John LeClair said. "We just didn't capitalize on them. This was an important game for us."
Carey's six shutouts is a franchise record for one season, surpassing Don Beaupre's five in 1990-91.
"The team played well ... to come out and give an effort like that, it's a credit to them," Carey said. "They had that one good period, the second, but we weathered the storm."
Sergei Gonchar also tallied and Jeff Nelson set up a pair of goals for the Capitals, who are 3-0-1 after a three-game losing streak. Washington, which was playing its fourth game in the last seven days, moves three points ahead of the sixth-place Montreal Canadiens in the Eastern Conference.
"My confidence definitely has risen, playing with veterans really helps a lot," Nelson said.
Ron Hextall made 15 saves for the Flyers, who dropped to 4-2-1 in their last seven games. Philadelphia is 2-2-1 against the Caps this season but 0-2-1 in Washington.
"We beat ourselves mentally and physically through lack of good decisions and we played a team that emphasizes the defensive part of the game," Flyers coach Terry Murray said.
Philadelphia captain Eric Lindros commented on the team's power play, which went scoreless on five chances.
"We're not in sync, we're not supporting each other," he said. "We had a pretty good power play a week ago. They have a pretty good penalty-killing squad."
Gonchar's 10th goal of the season with 45 seconds left in the first period gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Dale Hunter sent the puck behind the net where Nelson chased it down. Nelson faked to his right before feeding a pass to the opposite of the net, where Gonchar scored into a vacated net.
Konowalchuk's 22nd goal, a power-play tally 2:36 into the second period, made it 2-0. Konowalchuk took a pass from Joe Juneau and skated into the slot before putting a wrist shot through Hextall's pads.
Washington went up 3-0 on Kaminski's first goal of the season and the second of his career. Kaminski skated into the Philadelphia zone on a partial breakaway, and while falling with defenseman Dan Kordic tugging on him from behind, swept the puck through Hextall's pads.
