Copley and Caps Shutout Sens, 4-0

Washington netminder Pheonix Copley set aside all 35 shots he faced on Saturday night in Ottawa, helping the Caps to a 4-0 win over the Senators and helping himself to his first career shutout in the league. The win is the Capitals' 14th in their last 17 games, and their second in as many nights.

"Copley had a few saves to make early on, and he made them," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "I thought he was excellent tonight. He gave us a great start, and we kind of built on everything from the first period out there. So a really, really strong team game from us tonight."
Making his 11th start of the season, Copley earned his eighth win of the season, six of which have come on the road. He has now won each of his last five decisions.

"Back-to-back games, and a win for us," says the typically even-keeled Copley. "And the guys did a great job again blocking shots and denying them great chances. It was a really good team win."
The Caps staked Copley to an early lead, going up 1-0 in the second minute of the contest. Following an Ottawa icing, Lars Eller gained control of the puck and put it out to the left point for Jonas Siegenthaler. From the top of the paint, Brett Connolly tipped Siegenthaler's drive past Ottawa goalie Mike McKenna at 1:32, giving Copley all the offensive support he would require on this night.
"When we're ahead in games, we are definitely better," says Connolly. "We know when we're behind we have a lot of guys who can hurt you as well. But when you get that first one, you settle in and definitely on the second of back-to-backs, it was good to get that first one."
Ottawa had a fair amount of offensive-zone time in the first, and the Sens had some strong scoring chances as well. But Copley was up to all of them. He was particularly sharp in making three rapid-fire stops from in tight in a span of six or seven seconds around the five-minute mark of the first, denying Mark Stone once and Colin White twice.
Copley made perhaps his best stop on Nick Paul a couple of minutes after the aforementioned flurry. Paul carved his way down the middle of the ice, but Copley didn't bite on any moves, thwarting the opportunity to preserve Washington's one-goal lead.
The Caps expanded that advantage late in the first, getting a Matt Niskanen transition goal on a three-on-two rush. With Nicklas Backstrom carrying into Ottawa ice down the left side, Niskanen charged hard to the net, driving the center lane. Backstrom gave him a typically perfect feed, and the Caps defenseman redirected it past McKenna to make it 2-0 at 17:56.

"A three-on-two," recounts Niskanen, "and Nicky's got a few options there and a lot of tools in his box, obviously. So I go to the net as quick as I can, and I don't think I even had to move my stick. He put it right there and I redirected it in."
Washington doubled its lead with two more goals in the second period. First, Jakub Vrana executed a perfect swipe and snipe just ahead of the midpoint of the middle frame, stealing the puck from Stone in Ottawa territory and then beating McKenna from the slot for an unassisted strike at 9:05.
Less than five minutes later, Michael Kempny's waist-high floater from the left point deflected off a Sens defender and past McKenna to make it a 4-0 game at 13:44.
Seconds after the Kempny goal, Copley again denied White, this time on a two-on-one rush.
The third period was scoreless, with Copley making nine stops to seal the shutout and the win for Washington. During the second intermission, with the game well in hand, the Caps made sure they were focused on getting Copley his shutout with the last 20 minutes looming.

"We talked about it in between the second and the third," says Connolly, "to make sure we didn't have any defensive breakdowns, to make sure that we're getting in front of shots and getting in lanes, and that we're playing hard in front of our net for him."
Playing games on consecutive nights in the NHL is never easy, and it almost always requires travel, too. But with a four-day holiday break stretched out before them just beyond the end of Saturday's game in Ottawa, the Caps kept their focus right where it needed to be for those 60 minutes.
"They were in the same situation," says NIskanen, referring to the Senators, "but we played well, I think. We came out with a real good purpose and a detailed and determined effort. It was a pretty good all around game."