VIDEO: Alex Ovechkin's Vintage Goal Gives Capitals Lead In Win Over Senators

Capitals Vs. Senators: Alex Ovechkin Breaks Through, Leads Caps To 5-3 Win Over Senators

It's been a frustrating season for Alex Ovechkin to say the least. The first two periods of Wednesday's game against the Ottawa Senators were a microcosm of such as Ovechkin could not convert many quality chances.

Yet, when it counted, Ovechkin broke through.

Ovechkin's highlight-reel goal turned out to be the difference as the Washington Capitals defeated the Senators for the second time in a week in a 5-3 win.

Before that, however, Nicklas Backstrom's power play goal at 9:45 tied the game at 2-2. It was just the Caps' sixth power play goal in their last 64 chances.

After just missing several great chances all night, Ovechkin finally broke through to give Washington the lead for good. On an end-to-end rush, Ovechkin drove hard along the left boards and carried the puck behind the net. He continued his momentum around the right boards, but slammed on the proverbial brakes as he pump-faked Erik Karlsson, who went flying. Ovechkin then pulled another pump fake on a slap shot to get Craig Anderson to commit, but switched to a snap shot and beat Anderson for his ninth goal of the season at 13:50 to give the Caps a 3-2 lead.

Fifteen seconds later, Troy Brouwer - who had a Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, assist and fight - buried a feed from Marcus Johansson to give Washington a 4-2 lead.

Milan Michalek made things interesting when his power play goal at 16:08 brought Ottawa back within one, but John Carlson's empty-netter sealed the victory with less than a minute left.

The Caps are now 2-3-0 under Dale Hunter with both wins against the Senators.

Capitals Vs. Senators: Nick Foligno's Highlight-Reel Goal Gives Sens 2-1 Lead Over Caps

Just when things looked as if though they were turning around for the Washington Capitals, Nick Foligno turned them inside out.

The Caps jumped out to a 1-0 lead, but two late goals from the Ottawa Senators gave them a 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Jeff Halpern's second goal of the season gave the Caps the lead at 2:12. Troy Brouwer passed the puck to Dennis Wideman at the point. Wideman waited as Halpern and Marcus Johansson crashed the net and then fired a slap shot at Craig Anderson. Anderson stopped the initial shot with his leg pad, but the rebound came right to Halpern, who put it in.

Erik Condra tied the game at 1-1 about 10 minutes later when he put the rebound of Erik Karlsson's shot past Tomas Vokoun as John Erskine hooked him from behind.

Foligno's highlight-reel goal gave the Senators their first lead at 17:54 as he beat several Caps defensemen on his way to the goal. Foligno curled into the offensive zone, powered past Dennis Wideman along the boards and drove to the net. He then evaded John Carlson, held the puck long enough to draw Vokoun out of the net and used a curl-and-drag move to slide the puck into the net as his momentum carried him behind it. It was Foligno's ninth goal of the season.

Capitals Vs. Senators: Caps Don't Capitalize On 5-On-3 Advantage, End First Period With Senators In Scoreless Tie

The Washington Capitals' power play has been powerless to help them so far this season. In the first period against the Ottawa Senators Wednesday, the power outage continued.

Despite an almost two-minute long two-man advantage, the Caps did not score and are tied at 0-0 with the Senators after 20 minutes.

Jason Chimera gave the Caps a prime opportunity when he drew two penalties at the same time as Craig Anderson tripped him after Sergei Gonchar interfered with him.at 11:10. The Caps had nearly two minutes to work with up two men, but only mustered three shots on goal.

Even with no goals to show for their efforts, the Caps had 15 shots on goal as they created turnovers which led to a few scoring chances on the rush. Washington also held Ottawa to just six shots, all of which Tomas Vokoun stopped.

Alex Ovechkin leads the Caps with four shots on goal.

Capitals Vs. Senators: Tomas Vokoun To Start, Plenty Of Injury News Regarding Caps

Tomas Vokoun will start in goal for the Washington Capitals Wednesday against the Ottawa Senators, according to The Washington Post's Katie Carrera.

While Vokoun may be in, several Caps could be out.

• Matt Hendricks will not play Wednesday as he suffers from an undisclosed injury. Hendricks did not participate in Wednesday's morning skate after missing the entire third period of Monday's 5-4 loss to the Florida Panthers.
• Alexander Semin and Roman Hamrlik are both game-time decisions. Both took part in morning skate, but head coach Dale Hunter said that a decision regarding whether or not they play will come later. Hamrlik has missed three games with a lower-body injury, while Semin has missed two games with an injured right shoulder.
• Meanwhile, back at Kettler Capitals Iceplex, Mike Green and Jay Beagle skated Wednesday. Green has missed 13 games with a strained right groin muscle; he injured it in his first game from a three-week absence with a twisted right ankle. Beagle hasn't played since October 13 with a concussion suffered in a fight with the Pittsburgh Penguins' Arron Asham.

Capitals Vs. Senators: Washington Looks For Second Win Over Ottawa This Week

The Caps look for their second win over the Senators in less than a week Wednesday.