ROOKIE KEEPS DUCKS BUSY WASHINGTON 3, DUCKS 2 (OT).

Byline: A.J. Perez Staff Writer

ANAHEIM - His hands outstretched, rookie sensation Alexander Ovechkin fell to the near boards after slipping the puck past Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere late in the second period.

Replays showed that he merely lost an edge and fell forward. But to the naked eye. it looked like 20-year-old Russian winger was doing his best Superman impression.

And why not? His singular efforts resulted in tallies that put the Washington Capitals up twice before the Ducks sophomore cast answered each in a game that was tied 2-2 after regulation at the Pond on Friday.

Ovechkin's second goal - in which he fought off Ruslan Salei in front of the Anaheim net and fired in the tough-angled shot for No. 29 on the season - gave the Caps a 2-1 lead with 8 minutes remaining in the second.

Travis Moen, an offseason acquisition from the Blackhawks, pulled the Ducks even with 2:16 left in the period. He took a lead pass from defenseman Keith Carney, skated to the middle of the near face-off circle and fired the puck just under the crossbar.

The Ducks were stymied in the first period by Caps backup Brent Johnson, an unorthodox goalie who has been fairly pedestrian this season. He stopped rookie winger Corey Perry, who played his second game since being recalled, with two spectacular saves. In between, Johnson slid across and kicked away what looked to be a sure goal off the stick of Moen.

``Maybe we tried to make plays that were too cute,'' Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer said between periods.

Johnson, making his first start since Dec. 28 in place of a resting Olaf Kolzig, returned to his mediocre form in the second about a minute after Washington took the first lead of the game on Ovechkin's first tally. Joffrey Lupul skated in from the blue line and sent a shot from the top of the far face-off circle that was headed wide of the Caps' net before Johnson reached out.

The puck glanced off Johnson's glove and deflected into his net for Lupul's first goal since Jan. 1.

--Notes: With half the season to play, Ovechkin is three goals from surpassing Bob Carpenter (1981-82) in goals scored by Washington rookies. His 54 points is 13 shy of the all-time team mark, which is also set by Carpenter. ... Forward Rob Niedermayer missed his fourth game since suffering a concussion on Jan. 1 against Nashville. He's expected to resume off-ice workouts as soon as this weekend and could return to practice as early as next week.

A.J. Perez, [phone]

a.j.perez(at)presstelegram.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Washington's Dainius Zubrus pulls in the puck as teammate Brian Willsie, right and the Ducks' Ruslan Salei look on Friday.

Matt A. Brown/Associated Press