By Rich Dubroff PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mike Green scored twice, rookieNicklas Backstrom had a tally and two assists and superstarAlex Ovechkin netted a goal and set up another to lead theWashington Capitals to a 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrasherson Saturday night. The Capitals scored two goals in quick succession twice in thegame - once within a minute in the first period and again in a69-second span during the middle session. "We played a very strong game," Green said. "Everyone wasplaying the system, and that was the biggest differencetonight." The six tallies tied the most surrendered by Atlanta thisseason, and it came in the teams' first meeting since BruceBoudreau became Washington's interim coach on November 22. Thatwas a day after the Capitals lost, 5-1, to the Thrashers. Washington improved to 4-3-1 under Boudreau. Atlanta - whichalso fired its coach (Bob Hartley) this campaign - fell to14-8-1 under Don Waddell, who also is the club's generalmanager. Backstrom opened the scoring when Atlanta defenseman NiclasHavelid turned over the puck 40 feet in front of his own net.Backstrom picked up the gift and flipped it past goaltender KariLehtonen at 8:12 for his third goal of the season. Precisely a minute later, Alexander Semin brought the puck frombehind the net and flicked it back to Jeff Schultz. Thedefenseman, who was positioned in the faceoff circle toLehtonen's left, slapped it past the netminder with Seminsetting a screen for a 2-0 lead. "To get the first and second goals were very important,"Backstrom said. Matt Pettinger's rebound chance off Ovechkin's shot squirtedpast a bewildered Lehtonen at 4:16 of the second period to putthe Capitals ahead, 3-0. It was Pettinger's second goal of theseason and first since October 29. "I'll take any right now," Pettinger said. "I just got it onnet. These are the ones that sort of get you out of that slump.The was pretty much as ugly as they come." Todd White scored two goals for Atlanta. His first during atwo-man advantage at 12:31 of the second made it 3-1. Hissecond came at 7:05 of the third. Ilya Kovalchuk, who leads theleague with 23 goals, assisted on both tallies. "I wouldn't say this was one of our better efforts," Waddellsaid. "When the other team is working harder, sometimes itmakes you feel like you're working less." Ovechkin's 21st goal of the season, which tied him withDetroit's Henrik Zetterberg for second in the league, made it4-1 at 14:06. Ovechkin has eight points -including four tallies- in his last four games. Green's fifth of the season at 15:15 in the second gave theCapitals a 5-1 lead. He made it a five-goal advantage with hissecond of the night at 5:29 of the third. "It was a great way to answer back," Boudreau said. "That'sprobably the most impressive thing we did. In the past, fromwhat I've seen since I've been here, if (the opponents) score,they drop their heads a little bit. But they went right back atthem and scored." Thrashers captain Bobby Holik beat goalie Olaf Kolzig - whostopped 23 shots - at 9:41 to provide the final margin. "There's no secret. You need to get off to a fast start,"Kolzig said. "Tonight, we took the initiative. We went out andgot the lead. As a result, everybody got a little moreconfident, started feeling good about themselves and we got sixgoals." Lehtonen made 21 saves for Atlanta, which had won its previoustwo games. "It was almost like we didn't want it," Thrashers rookiedefenseman Tobias Enstrom said. "We were taking the easy wayout. They won all their battles and we didn't show up tonight."
