Mighty Ducks 3, Capitals 0

Thursday December 12, 2002

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) The Anaheim Mighty Ducks combined strong goaltending, special teams play and a little luck to extend their home unbeaten streak to six games.

Fredrik Olausson scored a first-period power-play goal, Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 26 saves for his second consecutive shutout, and the Mighty Ducks killed seven power-play chances for a 3-0 victory over the Washington Capitals on Wednesday night.

``The guys played good,'' said Anaheim's Mike Leclerc. ``We played a pretty good offensive team, a team that tries to generate a lot off turnovers and I think we did a pretty good job of eliminating that.''

Leclerc returned to the lineup for the first time in 11 games after having arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Nov. 19, and assisted on Olausson's goal.

The Mighty Ducks were 1-for-4 on the power play, while Washington was 0-for-7.

Anaheim killed off a four-minute power play late in the first period and early in the second after Stanislav Chistov was whistled for a double-minor for high sticking.

``Defensively, we were OK, kept ourselves in the game in that regard, we didn't give up a lot of scoring chances, but special teams ultimately cost us,'' Capitals coach Bruce Cassidy said. ``We didn't capitalize on the power play, didn't execute very well on it. They got a goal on the penalty kill where we broke down a little bit and that ultimately was the difference in the game, other than a lucky goal off the glass.''

Olausson's power-play goal at 16:24 of the first opened the scoring. The goal was Olausson's second in as many games after going scoreless in the first 20 games this season.

Pavel Trnka made it 2-0 at 5:52 of the second with his second goal of the season. He banked the puck off the glass just past the red line, and it caromed into the net past Sebastien Charpentier, who was out of position.

``Getting that second goal was huge for them, a lucky goal off the glass,'' Cassidy said. ``It gives you momentum and sort of was a backbreaker for us.''

Andy McDonald added an empty-net goal with 39.4 seconds left, his seventh goal of the season.

Charpentier made 27 saves in his second game since being recalled from the Portland of the AHL on Friday. ^Notes:@ Olausson played in his 1,000th NHL game, the 184th player to reach that milestone. ... The two points for the victory gave Anaheim 33 for the season, the highest total through 30 games in the franchise's 10 seasons. The previous high was 31 in both the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. ... Anaheim has not allowed a power-play goal in seven of its last eight games, killing 30 of 31 power-play opportunities. ... Adam Oates' assist on Trnka's goal was the 1,034th of his career, moving him within six of tying Marcel Dionne for seventh on the career NHL list. ... Washington is 1-5-1 in its last seven road games.

(Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)