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With the Boston Bruins in the rearview mirror, the Washington Capitals advance to the Eastern Conference Semi Finals to take on the Ottawa Senators.

Tale of the Tape

#4 Washington Capitals v. #8 Ottawa Senators

• Regular Season Series: Senators 3-1-0
• Capitals First Round: Defeated the Boston Bruins in 6 games
• Senators First Round: Defeated the New Jersey Devils in 6 games

The Battle of Wawa – Chris Simon v. Denny Lambert

In the town of Wawa, Ontario, Canada, population of 4,480, there is excitement as two of their own face off in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs when Washington Capitals forward Chris Simon battles his childhood friend Ottawa Senators forward Danny Lambert.

“Everybody is looking forward to it, although they’re not sure who to root for,” explained Wafa Park Plaza Pizzeria owner, Nick Alexopoulos. “I think they’d like to see the series go seven games and have one of those two guys score or something. It’s tough, because you’d like to see Denny pull it off because he hasn’t won the Stanley Cup, but then again Chris had such a falling-out with Colorado after he won the Cup there that you’d like to see him get one with the Capitals.”

Wawa means “wild goose” in Simon’s native Ojibwa tribe’s language. When entering the town, there is a landmark sign that reads “Welcome to Wawa, Hometown of Hockey Stars Chris Simon [and] Denny Lambert.”

“When you pull into Wawa, the first thing you see is the sign, and that just shows what kind of people are there,” Simon said. “There’s not too many places that would do something like that. As soon as I found out we were playing the Senators, I’ve been thinking about this. Denny is a great friend of mine. We’ve played hockey together, grew up together, and we’re both Native [Canadian] guys. It’s a surprising thing that we come from a town of 4,000, where we’re the only two players to ever get to the NHL, and now we’re playing against each other in the playoffs.”

“Me and Chris, our jobs are not always the most glamorous in the NHL, but we both play hard for our teams,” Lambert said. “We’re friends, but we both want to win this series. We might have a few matches out there, because that’s the nature of both our games, but in summer we’re still going to be close friends again because we respect each other so much.”

May 7th, 1998 – Game 1

Leading into Game 1, there was a fun little wager between United States President Bill Clinton and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien on the outcome of the series. The loser would need to wear the winning team’s sweater during a photo opportunity. There were other wagers made between Chretien and Senate Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-SD), and between Washington DC Mayor Marion Berry and Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson.

At the MCI Center for Game 1, the Washington Capitals and Ottawa Senators opened up their second-round matchup, and in the first period the Senators struck first as forward Daniel Alfredsson scored shorthanded to take the 1-0 lead, but less than a minute later as Capitals forward Richard Zednik scored to tie the game at one. “Anytime a team scores on you and you go right back and score on them, it’s a big lift,” Capitals captain Dale Hunter said. “At the same time, we know it’s only one game, and there’s another game on Saturday, and they are going to come out to work.”

At 4:03 of the second period forward Adam Oates’s fourth of the playoffs gave the Capitals the 2-1 lead. Then in the third period forwards Peter Bondra and Brian Bellows both scored to grow the Capitals lead to three and force Senators goaltender Damian Rhodes from the game, and forcing Ron Tugnutt into the game. “There wasn’t a lot of pressure on me when I came in, with the way [Capitals goaltender] Olie [Kolzig] was going,” Tugnutt said of his replacing Rhodes in the third period. “I thought it wasn’t going to make a difference, although when we made it 4-2, it kind of perked me up a little.”

Senators forward Andreas Dackell would score moments later while on the power play, but it would not be enough as the Capitals held on for the 4-2 victory to take Game 1. “You don’t want to lose home-ice advantage in the first game,” Capitals forward Craig Berube said. “We came out there not that great in the first period, but we knocked the intensity up after that and I think it was an all-around great game for us.”

For the Capitals, goaltender Olaf Kolzig stopped 36 out of 38 shots faced. “Fortunately we won the game and Kolzig was great for us and I thought we played a pretty good game,” said Bondra, who scored the game winning goal and his first of the playoffs. “It feels better [to score a goal] but everybody can score. It took some pressure off me. Now I can relax and have fun again.”

“That was a huge goal for Bonzai,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. “He’s not 100 percent and he’s sucking it up to play.”

“Saturday’s another game,” added Bondra, who also assisted on Zednik’s goal. “This is just one step. For sure, it’s going to be a different game. Either goalie is good. We have to shoot more often. Tugnutt would be nice. We still have a lot of things to prove that we can score against him. We’ll just try to play the same way and see what happens. If we can play the way we played tonight, we’ll be okay.”

“That probably was our best game in the playoffs,” Kolzig said. “They didn’t get much going except for the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes. The middle 40 minutes basically were long shots. We have 11 games [wins] before we take the [Stanley] Cup home.”

“We respect them,” Bondra said of the Senators, a mistake the New Jersey Devils made in the first round against the Senators. “We have to be patient, because of their speed and because it’s important to play our system like we did tonight. That was the key.”

May 9th, 1998 – Game 2

In Game 2, both teams would generate a total of 25 shots on goal and 16 total penalty minutes, but neither team would score to take advantage. At 9:46 of the second period Capitals defenseman Brendan Witt scored his first goal of the playoffs to take the 1-0 lead, but 64 seconds later Senators forward Alexei Yashin scored to tie the game 1-1. The Capitals, however, dominated as Joe Juneau, Joe Reekie, and Richard Zednik all scored to give the Capitals the 4-1 lead. “It was a nice saucer pass that landed on my stick,” Juneau said. “It’s nice to come back on them right after they scored on a play they should have gotten a penalty on.”

Then in the third period Brian Bellows and Adam Oates scored to seal the deal for the Capitals 6-1 victory and a 2-0 series lead over the Senators.

“I guess everything is going right if Reeks gets one,” said Witt, who hadn’t scored a goal since October 25th. “It feels good, but I don’t think we can get too confident. They’ve played well at home and we’ve had trouble in their building.”

“This isn’t the regular season by any stretch of the imagination,” coach Ron Wilson said. “We were focused, we waited and we took advantage of our chances. We got the puck upstairs where we wanted to score on him, and we got some traffic in front of him [Senators goaltender Ron Tugnutt].”

The Senators chose Tugnutt for Game 2 due to his history against the Capitals the past two seasons. It made it that much sweeter for the Capitals to score six times against him on 18 shots.. “It wasn’t overblown,” Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig said after stopping 30 of 31 shots for the victory. “With a 7-1 record and a goals-against average under 1.00, that’s total domination. As a goaltender, if you are Ron Tugnutt, there is no reason to go into this game feeling anything but a lot of confidence. But you can’t forget that playoffs are a different kind of year, and different things can happen.”

“I got lucky a few times tonight,” Kolzig said when assessing how the game went for him. “I gave Yashin too much room on his goal. But I feel strong. I’m not giving them a lot to shoot at. We’re forcing them to make a great shot and I’ve been lucky a lot of times, but I’d rather be lucky than good.”

“Olie made a great save on [Ottawa’s top scoring threat Alexei] Yashin and Juneau gets a goal,” said Brian Bellows, who assisted on Juneau’s game-winning goal. “The Olie made another great stop on Yashin, and down we come and Joe Reekie makes a goal. So it’s not a 6-1 game, really. The difference in the game was in there. I think that’s why our team is not over the top today. We can go in [to Ottawa] and the pressure will be on them. It’s a little bit different if they had gotten the split. then the pressure would have been on us. Now we go in there and try to pick up a game. Either way, though, they have an explosive team.”

However, for forward Peter Bondra, the injury woes continued in these playoffs. With 3 minutes and 53 seconds left in the second period, Lance Pitlick sent the left side of Bondra’s head into the boards. “We kept him out [of the third period] for precautionary reasons; it’s not bad,” Wilson said.

“I took a hit and felt a little uncomfortable,” Bondra said. “I talked to the doctor and we decided to rest me because the game was already 4-1. I have a little bit of a headache, but I took a pretty good punch to the neck, too. That’s what forced my head over. I saw it on the replay. If I had control, I’d probably not have hit my head into the glass. It’s not bad overall. The doctor is going to be there [Monday] and we’ll just go from there. I will try to get ready unless the doctor tells me to take a break. I will probably try to play [Game 3].”

May 11th, 1998 – Game 3

At the Corel Centre in Kanata, Ontario, Canada for Game 3, the Ottawa Senators looked to slow down the Washington Capitals, and in the first period they did, as forward Daniel Alfredsson opened the scoring with a power play tally 5:24 into the game and scored a second goal less than three minutes later for the Senators to take the 2-0 lead. Capitals defenseman Sergei Gonchar would score to cut the Senators lead back to one, but Alfredsson was not done yet as he completed the hat trick with his second power-play goal of the game at 16:41 of the first period to give the Senators the 3-1 lead.

“The first 20 minutes, they really came after us,” Capitals forward Esa Tikkanen said.

In the second period, Capitals forwards Peter Bondra (power play) and Richard Zednik scored to get themselves back on track, but Senators forward Alexei Yashin’s power play tally between Bondra and Zednik’s goals proved to be the game-winner as the Senators won Game 3 4-3 to cut the Capitals series lead, making it 2-1 

“They scored three powerplay goals, and that was the difference; we have to do a better job of killing penalties,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. “It’s just one hockey game and we’ll put that aside. We’ll also have to respond physically better. If they’re going after our top players, we’ve got to respond in kind and go after theirs as well. We have to make adjustments to the way the game was being officiated.”

“They scored big goals on the power plays, so we have to think about what we want to change on the penalty kill,” Tikkanen said. “They showed us that in the next game, we have to be ready. We know it’s not going to be a sweep, because they beat the best team in the NHL in the Devils [in the first round]. What we want to do is try to get a win here, and go back 3-1.”

“We’re confident,” Capitals defenseman Mark Tinordi said. “From our standpoint, we don’t think we played our best game tonight, and they did put in their best game.”

Senators coach Jacques Martin decided to go back to goaltender Damian Rhodes for Game 3. “It’s [my confidence] wavering,” Rhodes said. “If I get a solid start [Wednesday,] that will get me back in the confidence mode. I think those saves at the end of the game were a big help.”

Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig made 30 saves on 34 shots.

May 13th, 1998 – Game 4

Heading into Game 4, Capitals coach Ron Wilson urged his team to take care of business. “We just have to get more involved in the first 10 minutes of the game, take care of business first in the first period,” Wilson said. “You can’t allow a team like that to get a lead, and I’m sure they feel the same way about us. They were physical throughout their whole lineup, and I think our skill guys can’t worry about getting involved in that stuff. Just skate away from it. We have to get away from retaliatory-type penalties, focus on playing and allow our physical people to do their job as well.”

Back at the Corel Centre, the Capitals found a way. In the first period, defenseman Sergei Gonchar scored 18:30 into the first period while shorthanded to give the Capitals the 1-0 lead. Then after a scoreless second period, defenseman Mark Tinordi scored an empty netter with five seconds left to give the Capitals the 2-0 victory over the Senators to claim a 3-1 series lead.

The Capitals only garnered 11 shots on goal while the Senators put 36 shots on Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig. the shutout was the second of the postseason for Kolzig. “Ten or 11 shots on goal is not going to win you many hockey games, but when your goaltender is perfect and throws a shutout like that, I guess that’s all you need,” Wilson said. “I wasn’t very comfortable all night, although I just had a feeling that Olie was going to be perfect. You have to give Olie credit, without this kind of performance, we might be down 3-1 in this series.”

“We have to give Olie a break soon,” said Capitals defenseman Calle Johansson. “We have to take care of business, the other five guys in front of him. This isn’t too much for him right now, but he shouldn’t have to stand on his head every game. It is nice when he does, though.”

A reason for the lack of offense for the Capitals, no Peter Bondra. “He gutted it out [for Game 3],” Wilson said. “But he had headaches today. Hopefully he’s going to be able to go [for Game 5]. We thought he was over the hump the other day, but these things have a way of creeping up and jumping on your back.”

“There hasn’t been too much support in the playoffs so far,” said Capitals defenseman Mark Tinordi. “At home we seem to generate a little more offense and forechecking, but on the road, we kind of sit back and wait a little bit. In the next game, we have to find a way to forecheck a little more aggressively and still play defense. Down the road, if we get outshot like that, it’s going to burn everyone. No one can play in their end a majority of the game. [Olaf Kolzig] is going to get tired and you don’t get any chances.”

“If you have an opportunity to finish a team off, it’s very important to do it,” Wilson said between Games 4 and 5. “The earlier you do it, the more rest you get. But we learned last series that it’s far from over until you actually win the fourth game, and it’s the hardest game to win. They’re going to be desperate, and we’ve got to be a little more relaxed than the last time we played at home in a deciding game.”

May 15th, 1998 – Game 5

Back at the MCI Center for Game 5, the Washington Capitals looked to close out the Ottawa Senators, and after a scoreless first period, forward Joe Juneau gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Then in the third period, defenseman Sergei Gonchar scored on the power play and defenseman Calle Johansson got the empty-netter to give the Capitals the 3-0 victory and 4-1 series victory over the Senators.

“When Gonch scored, it was just this huge relief,” forward Brian Bellows said. “That just broke the mold. We knew that we were going to have it right then. It’s just such a great feeling, knowing you’ve pulled through a 1-0 game, especially after the second period — I had butterflies because it looked like we had a hand grenade in our own end there. But the one thing I can say about this team, every time we get in these situations, we seem to find a way out, and that just gets you more ready for the next series.”

“I’m very excited about getting to the next round,” Capitals coach Ron Wilson said. I’m really happy for our players because of all the adversity we faced this year. We’re looking to gain respect, and we’ve been given an opportunity. We’re the only game in town, and it’s given us an opportunity to win over some new fans, and we’re really excited about it. But we have to remember. On the way to the Stanley Cup, we’re only halfway there.”

Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig made 29 saves to earn his second consecutive shutout, and his third in the playoffs. “Olie’s the man right now,” Wilson said. “I think everybody agrees.”

“Olie has been great,” Juneau said. “He’s probably the reason we finished in fourth place [in the regular season], and he’s the reason we’ve got this far.”

“Tonight I thought we did probably our best job against them,” Kolzig said. “[Ottawa] was just trying to get the puck at the net. They were creating a lot more traffic and disturbance in front of the net, but I thought our `D’ did a good job in pushing the guys away and still letting me see the puck. That’s what playoffs are all about. I don’t want to take full credit because I’m just one guy — one part of the team. Had Peter Bondra or Adam Oates scored a hat trick it would be the same thing: He’s part of a team.”

After the series was over, United States President Bill Clinton presented Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien with a Washington Capitals jersey at the Group of Eight summit in Birmingham, England.

Rest of the Second Round Series

On May 14th, the Buffalo Sabres (#6) eliminated the Montreal Canadiens (#7) in a four-game sweep.

On May 16th, the Dallas Stars (#1) eliminated the Edmonton Oilers (#7) 4-1.

On May 19th, the Detroit Red Wings (#3) eliminated the St. Louis Blues (#4) 4-2.

After eliminating the Ottawa Senators in five games, stay tuned for Chapter 12 – Eastern Conference Finals v. Buffalo Sabres.

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RESOURCES

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