Daniel Alfredsson carried the puck across the blue line uncontested, slid it to D Filip Kuba along the right side boards, who immediately fed it back to Alfredsson in the high slot. As defenders Shaone Morrisonn and Mike Green both pinched to the center, Alfredsson hit Fisher in stride coming down the left wing, and he made no mistake, snapping past Caps goalie Brent Johnson's blocker side for the game winner.
Johnson played a tremendous game, as did his counterpart, Alex Auld, for Ottawa. Johnson faced a season high 42 shots, allowing just the two goals. Auld saved 25-of-26 for the home team to earn the win.
Both teams played this one close to the vest, trying to keep the other's scoring lines from doing much damage. The game plan worked for both teams, as they entered overtime tied at just one goal apiece with both of those goals registered in the second period.
Dany Heatley opened the scoring for the Senators at 1:13 of the second. The Caps pressed hard on a forecheck and were beaten on a breakaway. Alfredsson dug the puck out of the corner to Fisher, who made a beautiful lead pass to a streaking Heatley, who had beaten Jeff Schultz into the offensive one. After a quick deke to the backhand that got Johnson leaning, Heatley flipped it back to his forehand and beat Johnson to the near post.
Washington answered two minutes later. Michael Nylander wrestled the puck from an Ottawa defender to hold the zone and he pushed it up the boards where Tomas Fleischmann collected it and tapped back to Nylander. The veteran center then passed to Alexander Semin at the top of the circle, skated into the slot, and found a cutting Fleischmann in front of Auld. Fleischmann waited for Auld to commit, then lifted a backhander past him for the equalizer.
The rest of the game belonged to the two netminders.
The Caps penalty kill did the job last night, as they held Ottawa scoreless in five chances. Washington received only one power play the entire evening.
Fisher scores past Brent Johnson in OT. (Photo by AP)
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SCORESHEET
WAS: Fleischmann (4) from Semin and Nylander (2-3:26).
OTT: Heatley (8) from Fisher and Alfredsson (2-1:13); Fisher (1) from Alfredsson and Kuba (OT-4:20).
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THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY
GOOD: Brent Johnson. He made 42 saves, including a several highlight stops, one on a breakaway by Alfredsson. Quality job from a guy that coach Bruce Boudreau said "earned another start." We should say so.
BAD: Penalties. the Caps took five to Ottawa's one, including three for hooking. That's really just inexcusable. Hooking is the last bastion of players that have stopped skating, and Semin, Laich and Federov all got called last night.
UGLY: Federov's Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty. It didn't come back to hurt them, but for a veteran to lose his cool and slam the puck into the boards after getting whistled is just unnecessary. It a sign of frustration that this team just isn't clicking right now.
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NEXT GAME: Thursday, November 6 against the division leading Carolina Hurricanes from the Verizon Center at 7:00 pm.
RECORD: 5-4-2-12, second in Southeast Division. Two-game losing streak.
NOTES: Alex Ovechkin returned after missing two games visiting with his ailing grandfather in Russia. He was held off the scoresheet and described as "tired" by Coach Boudreau. Ovechkin has two goals on the season, both in the same game.
With his goal, Fleischmann tied Mike Green for second on the team in goals with four.
Carolina defeated Toronto in overtime last night, and heads into Thursday's game winning three of their last four games.
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