Defense Center Stage Again for the Capitals

The Philadelphia Flyers held Washington to its lowest shot total in 41 games. It didn’t matter.

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar had a goal and an assist, and Olaf Kolzig made 30 saves to help the Capitals defeat the Flyers, 2-0, Sunday at Washington to extend the NHL’s longest current unbeaten streak to 11 games.

The game was scoreless until the second period when Andrei Nikolishin fired a cross-ice pass to a cutting Gonchar, who slapped the puck past Brian Boucher.

“It was an unbelievable play by Andrei, the guy made a perfect pass right on my stick,” said Gonchar, whose team managed only 17 shots. “Basically, all I had to do was touch it.”

The Capitals, who have won seven consecutive games at home, have been getting production from their defensemen on both ends of the ice. At least one Capital defenseman has scored in five of their last six games, including Gonchar four times.

But Kolzig was the difference for Washington. He enabled the Capitals to weather a barrage of early Flyer scoring opportunities and a season-low two shots by his own team in the first period.

Defensively, the Capitals were able to contain Philadelphia’s big scoring threats. Eric Lindros, Jon LeClair and the recently acquired Keith Primeau were held to a combined eight shots.

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Montreal 3, Carolina 0--Buoyed by word that teammate Trent McCleary had survived a life-threatening injury, the Canadiens defeated the Hurricanes at Montreal.

The crowd of 19,380 applauded when word of McCleary’s improved condition was posted on the Molson Center scoreboard midway through the third period.

Goalie Jose Theodore stopped 23 shots for his fifth career shutout. Turner Stevenson scored the first goal and Benoit Brunet and Patrice Brisebois scored empty-net goals 10 seconds apart with less than a minute left to complete the scoring.

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Chicago 3, Vancouver 1--Dean McAmmond had a goal and an assist, sparking a three-goal second-period, as the Blackhawks defeated the Canucks at Vancouver, Canada.

Markus Naslund scored the lone goal for Vancouver.