By Ray Van Horn, Jr. Copyright 1999
 

Capitals roster

The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim proved what speed and concentrated passing can accomplish, as they convincingly dispatched the Washington Capitals 7-1 before a sparse attendence at MCI Center.

The evening was highlighted by three point games from Teemu Selanne and Matt Cullen, as well as a pair of goals for the red-hot Mike LeClerc.

The Ducks wasted no time getting the scoring machine rolling, confusing the Washington defense with their rapid skating and textbook passes. Pavel Trnka launched a slapshot through traffic at 3:06 of the first period, which squibbled though the leg pads of Capitals netminder, Olaf Kolzig. Trnka seized the opportunity to nab his first goal of the season after the puck bounced off of Washington's Sergei Gonchar. Matt Cullen and Oleg Tverdovsky each picked up assists for Anaheim.

As Guy Hebert led the way in the forechecking department, jostling the Capitals out of his net, the Anaheim linesmen continued their attack. Teemu Selanne picked up the first of his two goals of the night at 12:06 of the first, performing a nifty forehand to backhand shift and flipping the puck over a fooled Kolzig's shoulder. Matt Cullen and Kevin Haller grabbed assists on the play.

Anaheim began the second period as they did the first, outskating a scrambling Washington squad. After the Ducks killed off a Capitals power play, Mike LeClerc struck at 2:17, bouncing the biscuit off of the back of Olaf Kolzig's skate to give Anaheim a 3-0 advantage. It was LeClerc's third game in a row in which he has scored. Ladislav Kohn was credited with an assist.

The Capitals desperately picked up their pace, but could not contain the speedy Ducks. Teemu Selanne fought off two defenders to shovel a pass to Paul Kariya, who zipped a blistering wrist shot that bounced off of Kolzig's net. Matt Cullen was there to chip in the goal at 6:40, his second of the season.

With a 4-0 deficit, Washington yanked Kolzig (who gave up the goals on 18 shots), starting Craig Billington in the third period. Billington fared no better. Less than a minute into the period, Teemu Selanne victimized Billington for his fourth goal of the season on a cross pass from a streaking Paul Kariya, increasing the Anaheim lead to 5-0.

The Capitals thwarted the dreaded shutout as Jeff Halpern scored his first career goal at 2:54 of the third period.

However, Anaheim was far from finished. Antti Aalto blasted an unassisted wrister past a rather soggy Craig Billington at 5:36 to make it 6-1 at that point. Mike LeClerc completed the rout at 15:46 for his fourth netter on the season. Ladislav Kohn picked up his second assist of the game.

Guy Hebert notched his third win of the season, stopping 28 shots, as Anaheim improved their record to 4-4-0-1. Washington fell to 2-3-1-0.