Midnight for Cinderella?

NHL teams

The Washington Capitals took a control of the game and the series by routing the Senators, 6-1. The Caps now have a 2-0 lead in the series.

Ottawa's coach Jacques Martin decided to start Ron Tugnutt in goal instead of Damian Rhodes, who was the Senators hero in the first round but struggled in Game 1 against the Caps. Tugnutt had won seven of his last eight games against Washington.

Tugnutt's magic seem to hold as there were no score after one period. In the second period everything changed and Washington scored four goals by Brendan Witt, Joe Juneau, Joe Reekie and Richard Zednik.

Alexei Yashin had Ottawa's lone goal, but that was the only time he was able to break free of Esa Tikkanen, who once again did a great job in shadowing Yashin throughout the game.

Brian Bellows and Adam Oates finished scoring for the Caps, who played the third period without Peter Bondra who left the ice late in the second period after being checked head-first into the boards by defenseman Lance Pitlick.

CuJo blanks Stars
Curtis Joseph shutout the Dallas Stars and the Edmonton Oilers tied the series with a 1-0 victory.

The Oilers controlled the first two periods, Dallas had zero shots on goal in the first period and only four in the second period.

"We have to play with a lot more desperation in Game 3 if we're going to have a fighting chance," Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock said.