Before the Washington Capitals’ game Thursday night, Bruce Boudreau credited Andy Murray with helping him become an NHL-caliber coach.
Murray’s young, injury-ravaged team gave Boudreau’s club a game for nearly two periods, but the former student just had too much firepower at his disposal.
Viktor Kozlov had two goals, and Simeon Varlamov prevailed in a battle of rookie goaltenders as the Caps beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 at sold-out Verizon Center.
“I talked to [Murray] briefly before the game,” said Boudreau, who coached Los Angeles’ American Hockey League affiliate in Manchester, N.H., while Murray was the head man for the Kings. “I was a little nervous about it. I said, ’I don’t know if I should talk,’ but I did.”
The Caps have now won five in a row and continue to pace the Southeast Division (Washington’s lead over Carolina is eight points). They also have the best home record in the Eastern Conference. But Boudreau’s troops were sluggish against an inferior opponent for a second consecutive game.
After yielding a two-goal lead Tuesday against the Islanders before winning in overtime, the Caps failed to distance themselves from the worst team in the Western Conference until late in the second period.
The Caps struck twice in 40 seconds to snap a 1-1 tie. Kozlov helped Washington recapture the lead at 17:06 when he flipped home a rebound after Boyd Gordon drove the net.
“[Kozlov] is the unsung Russian,” Boudreau said. “He goes out and does his business. You don’t see him hitting a lot, but he’s strong as an ox. He gets things done.”
Then Eric Fehr collected the puck along the right wall and found Tomas Fleischmann unmarked in front of the St. Louis cage. Fleischmann snapped a shot past 6-foot-7 rookie goalie Ben Bishop for his 11th of the year at 17:46.
After scoring 10 goals in 75 games last season, Fleischmann has 11 this year. He had missed three games with a leg injury before returning Tuesday night against the Islanders.
Alex Ovechkin gave the Caps a 4-1 lead 13 seconds into the final period. Then the play got a little chippy, which culminated with St. Louis’ David Backes cross-checking Alexander Semin in the back. The Russian sniper did not return. Boudreau said Semin is day-to-day and will be re-evaluated Friday.
Ovechkin immediately came to his buddy’s defense, and the final 11 minutes had a distinctly rougher feel with players from each team not shying away from the hitting.
“It is the game - I didn’t really see what happened,” Ovechkin said. “I just saw [Semin] go to the ice and the guy there. I just tried to protect him.”
Kozlov’s first goal of the night was the lone tally in the opening 20 minutes. After Nicklas Backstrom battled along the boards with a Blues defender, the puck trickled down the wall to Kozlov, who sneaked a shot past Bishop on the short side at 16:14.
If the past two seasons are any indication, Kozlov could be in for another big day Saturday in Philadelphia. Last year his only two-goal games came back-to-back, and two seasons ago he had four and two tallies in successive games.
Backes knotted the score at 1-1 with a nifty deflection. Jay McClement took a shot from the outside of the left circle, and Backes knocked it down and through Varlamov’s legs at 9:09 of the second period.
Varlamov became the youngest Russian goalie to win a game in NHL history when he stopped 32 of 33 shots against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday night. He also was the first netminder to win his NHL debut in that city in 30 years.
Not only did he make it 2-for-2 and collect his first win at Verizon Center by making 29 saves, Varlamov’s father, Alexander, also made the trek south from Hershey, Pa., to see his son play. Alexander Varlamov has been staying with Simeon to help him with the transition to living in North America, and Bears play-by-play man John Walton gave Alexander a ride to the game.
“It was great that his dream was realized,” Varlamov said through an interpreter. “His dream was to see me play in the NHL, and it was my dream as well. He is probably right now the happiest man in the world, and so am I.”
Please read our comment policy before commenting.