Caps draw first blood

NHL teams

Rhodes get pulled in the third period and Caps cruise to a 4-2 victory and early lead in the Conference Semifinal.

What has been dubbed as youth vs. experience, the veteran Capitals held their cool despite of being outshot by young Senators, 38-23. Washington's goalie Olaf Kolzig also continued the string of spectacular performances in the net.

"It was probably our best game in the playoffs," said Kolzig, "They didn't get too much other than the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes. We feel good about this hockey game, the way the whole team played."

On top of Kolzig's stellar play, Esa Tikkanen's relentless shadowing effectively stymied Ottawa's major scoring threat, Alexei Yashin.

Revenge is sweet.
The great oil spill of last year was still fresh in the minds of the Dallas Stars as they beat the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1, to take a first step in revenging last year's playoff tragedy.

Defenseman Sergei Zubov scored twice from the blue line and Mike Modano had three assists in the Stars' victory. Mike Keane scored the third goal and goaltender Ed Belfour was as solid as ever.

Edmonton had a golden opportunity late in the third perios when Dallas' Grant Marshall received a major penalty and a game misconduct for butt-ending Kelly Buchberher in the right eye. However, the Stars' effective penalty killing was in top shape and the Oilers failed to score.