ATLANTA | Secondary scoring has been a minor issue in the early part of the season for the Washington Capitals, but their first game against a Southeast Division opponent was the remedy.
The Caps had only three goals from players who weren’t top-six forwards before Thursday night, but each of the five goals in a 5-4 victory Thursday night against the Atlanta Thrashers at Philips Arena came from different sources.
Four guys scored their first goal of the season, and defenseman Jeff Schultz had his first career three-point effort in the Caps’ third straight victory.
Washington took control of this contest with a flurry of goals in the middle period that chased starting goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. It started with the most improbable tally of the season — Schultz sent the puck up ice from near the faceoff circle to the right of Washington netminder Semyon Varlamov.
Several bounces later, including a big hop at the end, it was behind Pavelec for Schultz’s first of the season and a 3-2 Caps lead at 10:20 of the second.
Seventy-four seconds later Matt Bradley banged home the rebound of a Schultz shot, and it was a two-goal advantage. Bradley was the one forward not in the top six who was scoring before Thursday night, and he now has three goals and five points this season.
Shortly after Bradley’s goal, Pavelec played the puck and drew a mock cheer from the Thrashers faithful, but it quickly turned to groans and boos. Seconds later Mike Green’s shot from the top of the zone missed high, but Chris Clark was there near the right post to put home the carom off the end boards for his first of the season.
The final carnage — three goals in 1:24 and Atlanta coach John Anderson couldn’t get Johan Hedberg on the ice to replace Pavelec fast enough.
With Alexander Semin not on the trip because of what Caps coach Bruce Boudreau described as a combination of “being sick and sore,” Eric Fehr was promoted to the second line and didn’t wait long to take advantage.
Fehr slipped between the Thrashers defensemen near the Atlanta blue line, and Schultz hit him in stride with a perfect pass to spring a breakaway. He snapped the puck into the top right corner of the net for his first goal of the season at 2:02 of the first period.
Maxim Afinogenov answered a little more than two minutes later. Three seconds after Shaone Morrisonn went to the penalty box, Afinogenov squeezed a backhanded shot through Varlamov.
To replace Semin and Boyd Gordon (back) in the lineup, the Caps recalled Keith Aucoin and Alexandre Giroux from Hershey, and they hooked up for the team’s second goal eight minutes into the period. Aucoin created a turnover in the neutral zone and helped send the Caps on a three-on-two.
Chris Clark drove to the net to draw attention, leaving Aucoin plenty of space to send a cross-ice pass to Giroux, who beat Pavelec as he tried to slide feet-first into position.
Ilya Kovalchuk drew the Thrashers even again late in the period. After Kovalchuk started the rush by streaking down the left wing unimpeded, there was a scramble in front of the net and Aucoin tried to clear the puck out of danger.
Instead it landed on Kovalchuk’s stick, and he potted his eighth of the season while Varlamov was still down on the ice at 17:02.
• Corey Masisak can be reached at cmasisak@washingtontimes.com.
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