Capitals Surge Into First Place

The Washington Capitals jumped into a 10-way tie for first place in the Wales Conference after knocking off the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 on Day 2. Andrew Ference was the offensive hero for the Caps with a pair of third period goals.

Washington got off to a slow start, but after killing off three power plays the boys in blue finally found some momentum. When Montreal's Keefe took a major penalty at 15:53, the Capitals took advantage. Patrick Marleau scored the first goal from Dan Boyle and Jonathan Cheechoo at 19:32.

The penalty fest continued in the second period, but this time it was Montreal finding the back of the net. With Cory Sarich in the box for elbowing, Grier scored the first of his two goals at 5:48. Grier then made it 2-1 for the Habs 2:12 later from Damphousse and Stuart. Washington took two more penalties later in the period, but the penalty killers did a good job keeping Montreal off the board.

Seeking to change the momentum, Boris Mironov dropped the gloves early in the final period. He got beat up by Brad Stuart, but the Capitals found a new energy and tied the game just 34 seconds later. Ference was the scorer from Anson Carter and Michal Rozsival at 2:18. The Washington parade to the penalty box continued in the third as Sarich took a charging minor at 13:47, and Dan Snyder was hit with a major and game misconduct for highsticking at 14:03. The penalty killers continued to dominate for Washington, and shortly after getting back to 5-on-4, Ference scored his second of the game from Zigmund Palffy and Greg Watson at 16:46. Ference then found himself in the box for Elbowing just six seconds later, but once again the special teams did the job and stuffed the Canadiens.

Manny Legace earned first star honors with his 29 saves to take the win. Martin Brodeur had 18 saves for Montreal.

The Capitals are back in action on Day 3 in Carolina.