Chris Mason’s night ended early after Matt Hendricks’ goal sucked the life out of Andrew Ladd’s goal that opened the second period. Ladd scored at just 1:12 with an assist from Niclas Bergfors, and just a little over a minute later Hendricks popped the puck in off of a rebound past Mason. With the Capitals up 4-2, Mason was pulled and Ondrej Pavelec came in to replace him.
The Thrashers rebounded well. Bryan Little scored his second of the season. After a scrum between Eric Boulton and John Erskine that saw Boulton get an extra two minutes for roughing, Andrew Ladd took retribution into his own hands, scoring on a short-handed breakaway. Rick Peverley and Anthony Stewart also got prime scoring chances on the penalty kill. Andrew Ladd leads all scorers as far as SOG go on the Washington powerplay. Since he isn’t on the Caps, that should tell you how well the Caps’ PP is firing tonight.
The shots on goal are even at 20 each, but the numbers of shots per period tell the game’s story perfectly. Washington led the Thrashers 12 shots to seven after one, and the Thrashers out-shot the Capitals 13 to 8 in the second period. Pavs looks a lot better in net than Michel Neuvirth; which ever team controls the momentum this period wins this game.