Caps fight back

Capitals roster

"I thought we played as well as any game this season. We had pressure on them all night and we did a great job forechecking and our defensemen were involved." Washington coach Ron Wilson said. "It really felt good to get the first goal for a change. When you score first, the results are usually different."

Steve Konowalchuk gave the Caps a 1-0 lead 2:45 into the game. That score held until Brett Fedyk tied the game 6:10 of the second period. Washington regained the lead 25 seconds later when Joe Juneau scored on a pass from Adam Oates.

"The forwards made it a point to backcheck hard tonight," Juneau said. "We've been working hard every game and tonight we managed to score three goals, so I guess that's a start. It was also one of the few times we managed to score first, and in this league, teams that score first usually win."

With three minutes left Oates broke on a 2-on-1 with Peter Bondra and fed the puck to him for an insurance goal. Oates missed 23 games with a groin injury and the Caps went 9-13-1 without him.

"Sometimes injuries dictate what happens with your team," Oates said. "It's tough when your second and third lines cannot operate fully because of manpower problems. But we've been getting people back and hopefully the result of that will begin to show itself."