Caps Rout Senators

May 9, 1998 / 11:31 PM EDT / CBS/AP

Six players scored on six consecutive shots against a goaltender who used to give the Washington Capitals fits.

Needless to say, they had studied the films and figured something out.

From the 9:46 mark of the second period, the Caps took only six shots on Ron Tugnutt and converted them all in Saturday night's 6-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators. The four in the second period were all high to the glove side of the goalie who had given up less than one goal per game in compiling a 7-1 record against Washington over the last two regular seasons.

"He's more of a butterfly goalie," said defenseman Brendan Witt, who was the first to solve Tugnutt with his first goal since October. "And once he's down, you've got to get it up. ... Six goals on him. I think it might have hurt his confidence a bit."

The victory gives Washington a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal. Only once before, when they advanced to the conference finals in 1990, have the Capitals been in such a favorable position in the NHL playoffs.

"This isn't the regular season by any stretch of the imagination," said coach Ron Wilson, referring to Washington's recent struggles against Ottawa. "We were focused, we waited and we took advantage of our chances. We got the puck upstairs where we wanted to score on him and we got some traffic in front of him so that he couldn't see anything."

Tugnutt got the start after Damian Rhodes, who led the Senators in their first-round upset of top-seeded New Jersey, took a 4-2 loss in Game 1 against the Caps. Coach Jacques Martin had hoped Tugnutt's past success against Washington would give his team a psychological boost.

"That was just a good old-fashioned butt-kicking," Tugnutt said. "I'd like to get another chance. Obviously I'm disappointed things didn't go my way."

Martin said he would decide Sunday on his starter for Monday's Game 3 in Ottawa.

"I think Ron was all right, but when we made a mistake they capitalized on it," Martin said. "Probably the highest percentage

they had seven chances in the game and got six goals. There's not much you can do just regroup and be better the next game."

The Capitals do have one significant concern: 52-goal scorer Peter Bondra, who missed three games in the first round with a sprained ankle, did not return after being knocked woozy on a hard check by Lance Pitlick in the second period.

"I'm OK," Bondra said. Asked if he would play Monday, he said, "I think so."

The Capitals retaliated for the hit in the third period, taking 32 penalty minutes in scuffle after scuffle.

"We were answering the cheap shot to Peter Bondra," Wilson said. "You want to skate with us, we'll skate. You want to play hardball, we've ot some heat we can throw at you."

While Tugnutt struggled and was serenaded to the derisive chant "Tug-nutt", Olaf "O-lie" Kolzig put on another dazzling performance for the Capitals. Among Kolzig's 30 saves were two nice glove-side stops on Alexei Yashin, one of which had the look of a shortstop lunging to backhand a low line drive.

Witt, Joe Juneau, Joe Reekie and Richard Zednik scored in the second period, while Brian Bellows and Adam Oates scored in the third for Washington. It was Reekie's first goal since December.

The Caps got strong games from their two late-season pickups. Bellows set up Washington's first two goals and scored another in the third, while Esa Tikkanen again frustrated Yashin by shadowing, checking, grabbing and otherwise getting in the way of the Senators' top scoring threat all over the ice.

Yashin did break free long enough to score the Senators' only goal in the second period. It happened when Tikkanen got blind-sided by Andreas Dackell, springing Yashin free for a clear shot at Kolzig. In the third period, Yashin took out his frustrations by trading punches with Dale Hunter after getting checked from behind by Reekie.

The game was nearly half over when three goals in less than 90 seconds gave Washington a 2-1 lead.

Witt got his first career playoff goal when Bellows' centering pass was accidentally deflected his way by Juneau. Witt, with no defender marking him, put in a shot home from the left circle.

After Yashin tied it, Bellows fed Juneau on a 2-on-1 break as the Caps regained the lead.

Tugnutt appeared screened on Reekie's slapshot from the left point that made it 3-1. Zednik put the lead at three goals when the defense gave him plenty of space in front of the net to maneuver before finding the upper right hand corner of the net.

In the third period, Bellows tipped in Calle Johansson's slapshot on a power play, then Juneau and Oates combined on a shorthanded 2-on-1 break to complete the scoring.

"We're pretty confident, but I don't think we're cocky," Witt said. "A lot of teams have been down 2-0 and come back."