Scott Walker had simple goals before taking to the ice Thursday night for his first game with the Washington Capitals.
He was just hoping not to derail the his new teammates, who had the best record in the league before he joined the team in a trade from Carolina at the deadline Wednesday.
“I was nervous, probably didn’t get a good pre-game nap, and I was just trying to play and fit in,” Walker said. “They’re playing so good, you just don’t want to disrupt them.”
Walker did a lot more than fit in. He scored twice in a 2:58 span in the third period to lead the Capitals to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. It was Washington’s 12th straight home win, adding to the team record.
Walker broke a 4-all tie when he deflected Mike Green’s shot, then dove to score on the rebound at 13:09 in the third period. It was his first multi-goal game of the season, giving him five total.
“His history has been — in the right place at the right time,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said.
It was the fifth straight loss for the Lightning, who have allowed at least five goals in each of the losses.
Elsewhere in the NHL it was: Pittsburgh 5 N.Y. Rangers 4 (OT); Boston 3 Toronto 2 (SO); Carolina 4 Ottawa 1; Phoenix 3 Colorado 1; Atlanta 6 N.Y. Islanders 3; Nashville 4 Los Angeles 2; St. Louis 6
Dallas 1; and San Jose 3 Montreal 2.
At Washington, the Capitals took a 3-2 lead after Mike Knuble scored twice in the second period, and held on through a tough penalty kill late in the period.
The Capitals were called for three penalties in less than a minute — the first of which was paired with a Lightning penalty — to give Tampa Bay a 4-on-3 advantage. It turned into 4-on-2 and a half when Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom broke his stick.
Backstrom blocked two shots without his stick and earned a standing ovation with about five minutes left in the second period. The defensive plays seemed to give Washington a lift, and the Capitals killed all three penalties to hold onto their lead.
Washington pushed the lead to 4-2 when Walker scored his first goal at 10:11 in the third period.
Tampa Bay then got a quick pair of goals to tie the game. Vincent Lecavalier scored his second of the game on a breakaway 24 seconds after Walker’s first goal, and then Steven Stamkos scored his 38th of the season about two minutes later. That set the stage for Walker’s final goal.
“You’ve got to play that hard style within the system. Now I’ve just got to make sure the system I’ve got in there naturally is this system and not Carolina’s,” Walker said. “There’s a few tweaks here and there, but playing on the ice, putting five guys on five, it’s simple. You get the puck and you move on into their end.”
Penguins 5, Rangers 4 (OT)
At New York, Jordan Staal scored a power-play goal 3:42 into overtime on Pittsburgh’s 55th shot at Henrik Lundqvist, and the Penguins outlasted the Rangers.
Evgeni Malkin fired a shot from the left circle that bounced in off Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky and Staal. It was the third Penguins goal that went in off a Rangers player.
Staal, Alex Goligoski, Chris Kunitz and Mike Rupp scored in regulation for Pittsburgh. Dubinsky, Chris Drury, Artem Anisimov and Michal Rozsival scored for New York. The 50 saves were a career high for Lundqvist.
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Bruins 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO)
At Boston, Tim Thomas made 24 saves in regulation and overtime and added three more in the shootout for Boston.
Miroslav Satan scored Boston’s first goal and had the only goal in the shootout. Thomas stopped Tyler Bozak with a pad save to end it, then started pumping his glove to celebrate Boston’s first win at home since the New Year’s Day Winter Classic — and the Bruins’ first win of 2010 in the TD Garden.
Johnny Boychuk also scored for Boston. Bozak and Viktor Stalberg scored for Toronto.
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Hurricanes 4, Senators 1
At Raleigh, N.C., Tom Kostopoulos and Rod Brind’Amour scored in a 1:05 span of the first period, and Manny Legace made 25 saves to help Carolina run its winning streak to seven games.
Chad LaRose and Brandon Sutter also scored. Former Hurricane Matt Cullen, traded to Ottawa on Feb. 12, scored a goal in his return to the RBC Center.
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Coyotes 3, Avalanche 1
At Glendale, Ariz., Wojtek Wolski beat his former Colorado teammates in his Phoenix debut, scoring the go-ahead goal with 22 seconds left.
Wolski joined the Coyotes on Wednesday in one of the seven deals the team pulled off before the trading deadline.
Lee Stempniak, acquired from Toronto on Wednesday, scored for the Coyotes in the first period, and Radim Vrbata added an empty-net goal.
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Thrashers 6, Islanders 3
At Atlanta, Nik Antropov had two goals and an assist, and Clarke MacArthur and Evgeny Artyukhin scored in their Thrashers debuts.
Niclas Bergfors, another recent acquisition, also scored. He has five goals in seven games since being obtained as part of the Ilya Kovalchuk trade with New Jersey.
Maxim Afinogenov also scored for Atlanta, 4-0-2 in its last six games. Mark Streit, Rob Schremp and Tim Jackman scored for the Islanders.
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Predators 4, Kings 2
At Nashville, Tenn., J.P. Dumont, Jason Arnott, Marcel Goc and Jerred Smithson scored, and Pekka Rinne made 20 saves for Nashville.
The victory was Nashville’s sixth consecutive over Los Angeles, which had won 11 of its previous 13 games. Martin Erat had two assists for the Predators.
Alexander Frolov and Drew Doughty scored for Los Angeles.
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Blues 6, Stars 1
At Dallas, Paul Kariya scored twice, combining with teammate Brad Boyes for a pair of goals during a 17-second span of the first period, and St. Louis extended its winning streak to a season-best five games.
Alexander Steen, Patrik Berglund and T.J. Oshie added goals, and Chris Mason made 29 saves for the Blues, who boosted their road record to 18-9-4 in the matchup of teams attempting to climb into the Western Conference’s top eight.
Loui Eriksson scored for Dallas.
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Sharks 3, Canadiens 2
At San Jose, Calif., Dany Heatley scored the tying goal and Manny Malhotra delivered the winner for the Sharks in a 2:33 span in the third period.
Patrick Marleau scored a short-handed goal, and Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves for the Sharks, coming off their first back-to-back regulation losses of the season.
Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta scored for Montreal.
