Stars Fade to Black in Capitals Win

The Washington Capitals used a balanced attack, good goaltending and a strong penalty kill to secure a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars on Day 37. The two points moves Washington to 8-7-3 for the season.

The visiting Capitals came out quickly in the first period, and Anson Carter opened the scoring with a goal from Mikael Renberg at 5:46. Dallas answered back less than a minute later on Mike Ricci's goal from White and Campbell at 6:34. Both teams killed penalties late in the period to keep it 1-1 heading to the intermission.

Washington was shorthanded again early in the second period when Cory Sarich went off for roughing at 5:19, but the penalty killing unit snuffed out every Dallas chance. With the momentum from a successful kill, the Caps fired up the offense and Todd Warriner made the pressure pay with his fifth goal of the season at 8:50. Zigmund Palffy and Michal Rozsival assisted on the goal. Just under four minutes after Warriner's tally, Washington was shorthanded again on Boris Mironov's hooking penalty. The Capitals did the job again on the kill to preserve the lead. Unfortunately, Dallas tok advantage of a turnover late in the period, and Sjostrom scored from White at 16:05 to 2-2 at the end of two.

With the game on the line in the final period, the Capitals were once again shorthanded at 7:07 when Mark Eaton took a minor penalty for cross-checking. Fortunately the penalty killers were flawless once again to keep the Stars from shining brightly. The final 20 minutes were a close-checking affair, but the Capitals finally got an edge late in the action when Bryan Berard netted from Patrick Marleaug and Manny Legace at 15:11. The goal proved to be the game-winner as Washington held on for the victory.

Legace made 23 saves to earn the win and improve to 7-6-1. Marty Turco stopped 22 shots in a losing effort for Dallas.

Washington returns to action on Day 38 against Anaheim.