This Date in Caps History - December 23
Comment
Print
On December 23, 1998, the Washington Capitals blanked the Florida Panthers in their own house by a 4-0 score.
Florida outshot the Capitals 10-3 in a scoreless first period. The highlight of the session was a melee at 8:22 in which Washington's Craig Berube and Florida's Paul Laus squared off in the main event while the Capitals' Dale Hunter, Mike Eagles and Sergei Gonchar all received roughing minors along with the Panthers' Kirk Muller, Bill Lindsay and Peter Worrell.
Calle Johansson put the Caps on the board with a power play goal at 2:40 of the second period. With 3:39 left in the period, Brian Bellows scored on another Washington power play to push the lead to 2-0. Florida again held the advantage in shots, 10-9.
Washington's Andrei Nikolishin netted a shorthanded goal against Panthers' netminder Sean Burke at 5:23 of the third. Ken Klee's third goal of the season closed out the scoring at 15:01. Olaf Kolzig made 29 saves for his third shutout of the season and the 10th of his NHL career.
