AHL SCORING CHAMP RE-SIGNS WITH HERSHEY BEARS ON TWO-WAY CONTRACT

Alexandre Giroux, the Hershey winger who tallied 60 goals in the AHL regular season and 15 more in the Bears' run to the Calder Cup, has re-signed with the organization, the Bears announced Wednesday.

Giroux, 28, was an unrestricted free agent and signed a one-year, two-way deal, meaning he can be recalled by the Capitals. His NHL salary will be $500,000.

Last season for Hershey, the big winger scored 60 goals in 69 games -- and added 37 assists -- to capture the AHL scoring title. During one stretch, he scored a goal in 15 consecutive contests, surpassing Brett Hull's league record for goal scoring in consecutive games.

He played in 12 games for the Washington Capitals in 2008-09, with one goal and one assist.

"Alexandre Giroux was so important to our team’s success last year both on and off the ice," said Bears President/GM Doug Yingst. "For our organization, for our fans and for this region, we could not be happier that he chose to return next season."

JURICA RE-SIGNS WITH CAPS

Last week, the Capitals announced the re-signing of defenseman Milan Jurcina to a one-year contract. In keeping with club policy, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Capitals Insider, Jurcina's 2009-10 salary is $1.375 million.

Jurcina, 26, appeared in a career-high 79 games for the Capitals in 2008-09 and led defensemen in games played. He had three goals and set career highs in assists (11) and points (14), and the team was 10-3-0 when he recorded a point.

Jurcina was first on the club with 131 blocked shots and second with 157 hits. He added two goals in 14 playoff games and was third on the team at +6.

Jurcina was invited to Slovakia's pre-Olympic camp, which runs this week.

Brent Johnson spent several minutes on the ice after doing a partial split to stop a follow-up shot from Chuck Kobasew after thwarting a break-away by Patrice Bergeron. He aggravated his nagging hip injury on the play, and you can't blame coach Bruce Boudreau if he was thinking the worst.

But the Washington goalie managed to get back to his skates and stay on, played perhaps his best game of the season, and carried the Capitals (16-10-3-35, first in Southeast) to a 3-1 victory over the Boston Bruins (19-5-4-42), leaders of the NHL's Northeast Division.

Johnson stood on his head several times during the game, but none more spectacularly than robbing Bruins rookie Blake Wheeler with a diving stick save. Wheeler made a nifty move to get to his backhand and tried to slide the puck under Johnson, which in reality gave Johnson the opportunity to get in front of it.

"He made a really, really good move," Johnson said. "I just got lucky there."

In truth, it was a highlight reel save on a night full of clutch saves for the long-time backup. Johnson allowed just one goal on 34 shots. He is riding a three-game win streak with a .952 save percentage during the streak.

For the season, Johnson improved to 8-4-2 with a 2.47 goals-against average and .918 save percentage.

The Caps received goals from Niklas Backstrom (9), Alexandre Giroux (1) and an empty netter from Alex Ovechkin (15). Milan Lucic was the only Bruin to dent Johnson, netting his eighth in the second period after a defensive end give-away.

Backstom redirected a shot from the point from Ovechkin on the power play in the first period and Giroux's goal was his first NHL goal since the 2006-07 season.

The Caps were bolstered by the return to the lineup of defenseman Tom Poti and Alexander Semin. Poti had missed the previous six games with a groin strain and Semin the past 12 games with an upper back/neck injury. The team hopes to get D Mike Green back for the weekend games.

But for one night, this collection of Caps and Hershey Bears held the third highest scoring the team in the league to just one goal for a much needed and well deserved home victory.

Photos (c) C. Nichols 2008.
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SCORESHEET

WAS: Backstrom (9) from Ovechkin and Kozlov (1-3:53-PP); Giroux (1) from Kozlov and Poti (2-4:52); Ovechkin (15) from Semin and Backstrom (3-19:08-EN)
BOS: Lucic (8) from Kessel and Chara (2-19:25)
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THREE STARS

1. B. Johnson - WAS (Saves: 33, Save Pct: .971)
2. A. Giroux - WAS (Goals: 1, Assists: 0)
3. P. Kessel - BOS (Goals: 0, Assists: 1)
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NOTES

Washington is 11-1-1 at the Verizon Center this season.

Tomas Fleischmann missed the game with a "lower body" injury. The team recalled Oskar Osala for his NHL debut.

The loss is just Boston's second regualtion loss in the last 17 games and first time the Bruins were held to one goal since an Oct. 28 1-0 win over Vancouver.