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ATLANTA (AP) -- Maxime Ouellet admits he was ill-prepared when he made his first NHL start three seasons ago.

Ouellet made it look easy in his second start, making 37 saves Tuesday night to complement Robert Lang's two-goal, two-assist in the Washington Capitals' 5-0 win over the Atlanta Thrashers on Tuesday night.

"I was less nervous than I thought I would be but I had a chance to have two shots in the first minute and it really helped me out to just relax," the 22-year-old Ouellet said.

Ouellet was 19 when he made his first start with the Philadelphia Flyers in 2000-01, giving up two goals to Brett Hull and losing 3-1 to Dallas and goaltender Ed Belfour.

"I was so young when I played that first game. I wasn't really ready for it," he said. "I remember how easy it looked for Belfour to make saves and that really impressed me."

The victory was the second in three starts for new Washington coach Glen Hanlon, who replaced the fired Bruce Cassidy last week.

Lang's performance gave him 40 points, moving him a point ahead of Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk for the league lead.

"I think everybody's excited. New system. Everybody's sort of like rejuvenated," Lang said. "Tonight was just one of those nights. Everybody wanted to win and wanted to be part of it."

The Capitals played the final two periods without Jaromir Jagr who was slashed on the hand late in the first period. He is not expected to play Wednesday against Florida.

The loss halted Atlanta's franchise-best home winning streak at three games and also ended a three-game winning streak for Atlanta goalie Byron Dafoe. It also was second straight game Atlanta had been shut out.

"It's very plain and simple, we got outworked. We got outplayed and basically never touched the puck," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said.

Brian Willsie opened the scoring for Washington at 12:36 of the first period when Lang's pass bounced off an Atlanta defender to Kip Miller, who slid a pass to Willsie at the side of the net. Miller then scored on a late first-period power play to open a 2-0 lead.

Washington made it 3-0 midway through the second period when Lang fired a rising shot over Dafoe's left shoulder.

Lang beat Dafoe with a high, fluttering shot 1:34 into the third period and Peter Bondra rounded out the scoring with a 5-on-3 power play goal.