Caps Top Bruins In OT

April 26, 1998 / 8:57 PM EDT / CBS/AP

During a streak of seven consecutive playoff overtime losses, the Washington Capitals figure they deserved to win one or two. But seven times in a row, the breaks worked against them.

So it was without apologies that the Capitals accepted a gift of a victory on Sunday, delivered when the referee waved off a Boston goal in the first overtime and clinched when Joe Juneau scored at 6:31 of the second.

"It's highway robbery that we won this hockey game," Capitals coach Ron Wilson admitted after beating Boston 3-2 to take a two games to one lead in their best-of-7 series.

"We're catching breaks, and we're a franchise that never seems to get any," he said. "At some point in time, fate has to be on your side. And tonight it was."

Olaf Kolzig stopped 52 shots and Sergei Gonchar scored twice in regulation for the Capitals. Byron Dafoe made 24 saves for Boston, which will host Game 4 on Tuesday night.

For the second consecutive game, the Capitals took a 2-0 lead; for the second consecutive game, the Bruins rallied to tie it; and for the second consecutive game, it took two overtimes to settle it. On Friday night, Boston won 4-3 after 20:54 of overtime.

On Sunday, the Bruins tied it 10:59 into the third period and appeared to win it on P.J. Axelsson's goal 15:43 into the first overtime. But referee Paul Devorski, with help from the linesman and the replay official, waved off the goal after the replay showed Tim Taylor's left skate was in the crease.

"We were ready to go to the locker room, but somebody said they were going upstairs," Bruins forward Steve Heinze said. "It was a good celebration, but all for naught."

NHL rules say that a goal should be disallowed when an offensive player is in the crease. However, Bruins general manager Harry Sinden, who takes an active role in league affairs, said that the league decided this year that goals should not be waved off unless the attacking player was involved in the play.

"They told the referees that when a player has a toenail in the crease or something like that, let the referee call it," Bruins general manager Harry Sinden said. "But the referees say, 'I know what happened, but let me go upstairs (to the video replay booth) to cover my (self)."'

The NHL rule book printed before the season started says nothing about referee discretion. "I don't know where that came from," Devorski told a pool reporter.

But an NHL spokesman, relaying comments from director of officals Bryan Lewis, said that an Oct. 30 directive sent to the officials gave the referee the authority to allow a goal even if a player preceded the puck into the crease. Once the referee asked for help from the video officials, though, he must abide by their decision.

The Capitals ha not won an overtime game in the playoffs since a 1991 first-round victory over the New York Rangers. They were outshot 54-27 on Sunday including 14-3 in the third period and 19-9 in overtime.

"Everybody would admit we stole the game from Boston today," Juneau said. "But if you remember, we should have won the last one."

Juneau connected with Adam Oates on the game-winner, reaching out to his forehand to take a pass from the back of the net and snapping it back across Dafoe's body into the top corner of the net.

Sergei Gonchar, who scored only five goals all season, scored both of Washington's goals in regulation. He has just 32 goals in 238 career regular-season games but eight goals and six assists in 16 playoff games.

Gonchar put Washington up 1-0 with 90 seconds left in the first period and then added a second goal with 5:45 to play in the second. He was trailing a 4-on-2 when he took a drop pass from Dale Hunter and slapped it past Dafoe.

The 2-0 lead silenced the crowd, but the Bruins had come back from the same deficit in Game 2 to avoid a 2-0 hole in games. Kyle McLaren cut the lead in half when he put a nice pass from Sergei Samsonov past Kolzig with 60 seconds left in the second period.

The Bruins tied it with 9:01 left in the third when Joe Reekie got caught throwing an elbow with the teams already playing 4-on-4. Samsonov took advantage of the open ice to find Ray Bourque across the ice; Bourque's shot was deflected past Kolzig by Dmitri Khristich to tie it 2-2.

The Capitals had hoped to use 52-goal scorer Peter Bondra, who sprained his ankle in the first period on Friday night and did not return. He has been listed as day-to-day, and he was a scratch for Game 2.

Chris Simon, who missed the last 46 games of the regular season with a bad shoulder, was also expected back Sunday, but he was scratched from the lineup, too.