Caps Top Rangers In OT

December 18, 1999 / 1:23 AM EST / CBS/AP

Olaf Kolzig preserved the tie for the Washington Capitals and Calle Johannson broke it.

Johansson scored 31 seconds into overtime Friday night to lift the Washington Capitals to a 3-2 victory over the Rangers, snapping New York's five-game unbeaten streak.

Steve Konowalchuk won the puck in the corner, circled out to the front of the net and fed Adam Oates. Oates passed it back to Johansson, who blasted a slap shot past Rangers goaltender Mike Richter.

"I barely saw the net so he couldn't have seen much of me," said Johansson of his fourth goal. "I tried to hit the net. When he can't see the puck there's a good chance it's going in."

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Kolzig made several brilliant saves in the third period to keep the Capitals alive, stopping Kim Johnsson on a giveaway and Petr Nedved from point blank.

"Oly was the difference tonight," Chris Simon said. "When he plays like that he gives us a chance to win every night."

Adam Graves scored both Rangers goals, giving him 257 for New York and moving past Camille Henry into fifth place on the team's career goal scoring list.

"They made a great play in overtime and it cost us the game," Graves said. "In the third period we played really well, getting the puck in deep and forcing turnovers."

Oates, who had one goal and two assists, scored on the power play at 16:30 of the second period to even the score at 2. Oates converted a pass from Dmitri Mironov for his fourth goal of the season.

Graves put the Rangers ahead 2-1 at 13:43 with his 10th goal of the season. With New York on a power play, Graves went to the goal crease and redirected a pass from Mathieu Schneider past Kolzig.

After a close-checking first period, the Capitals broke through 53 seconds into the second when Chris Simon took a pass by Oates from behind the net and one-timed a shot over Richter.

Graves tied it 54 seconds later, taking a soft pass from the blue line from Theoren Fleury and slipping it between Kolzig's pads.

The game was Rangers coach John Muckler's 600th as an NHL head coach (258-265-77).

"We had them on the run," Muckler said. "We had great opportunities to score."