Win earns Caps a light practice

Glen Hanlon celebrated his first month as the Washington Capitals’ coach yesterday with a light-hearted practice following Friday night’s 4-1 victory over Carolina that broke a seven-game winless skid.

At one point during the session, at the Caps’ Piney Orchard practice facility in Odenton, Md., Hanlon had the nets back to back at center ice with four players skating from one side of the red line to the other and trying to put the puck past goalies Olie Kolzig and Rastislav Stana.

At 12-26-4-1, the Caps are still mired in the Southeast Division cellar as they prepared for tonight’s home game against Edmonton, but the mood was so light that when Stana wasn’t looking, Kolzig sneaked over and slid his backup’s net to one side to give the shooters an easier target.

“All you’re trying to do is get their legs moving and have some camaraderie and some fun,” Hanlon said. “I wish our record [4-8-3 since he replaced the fired Bruce Cassidy] was better. I wish we were closer to .500. That’s a reasonable goal. But I like our mood. I like our work habits in practice. And with [assistants] Randy Carlyle and Jay Leach being such good teachers, it’s like we have three head coaches out there. We’re going to be a very sound defensive team. I’ve seen us move in that direction.”

Part of the fun against the Hurricanes was provided by skilled 19-year-old Russian left wing Alexander Semin, who scored a power play goal in his first game back since returning from the World Junior Championships.

“Alex likely played as much hockey in the last two weeks as he had the whole year, and that helps anybody,” Hanlon said. “He and Kip [Miller] played well together [against Carolina]. There weren’t as many turnovers and bad defensive decisions as I had seen in the past. And putting Alex on the power play is a no-brainer. We’re encouraged.”

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar, Semin’s mentor and translator, said he also got a boost with the arrival of his mother Friday for an extended visit.

“Alex got his confidence back playing over there,” Gonchar said. “He was skating well. He wasn’t so surprised with the tempo last night as he was before.”

However, it wasn’t a fun day for center Boyd Gordon. The 19-year-old rookie was sent to Portland of the American Hockey League after producing one goal and five assists despite playing an average of 13 minutes in 40 games. The Caps want Gordon, who also had a minus-9 defensive rating, to rediscover his offensive touch.

“Gordo has played fairly well,” Hanlon said. “His positioning and his penalty killing are good. He’s fearless at blocking shots. But we do want Gordo to score. We don’t want to run into the same thing that we had with Brian [Sutherby] last year when he went the whole year with only two goals [and has yet to recapture his offensive ability].

“Gordo is going to play 24 or 25 minutes [a game] down there. [Pirates coaches] Tim Army and Mark Kumpel do a wonderful job. Every player that has come up from Portland has been as sound defensively as any of ours.”

Gordon’s demotion is far from permanent.

“Gordo is the type of player that we’re going to be all about,” Hanlon said.

Tonight’s game is the first at MCI Center for Edmonton center Adam Oates since he was traded by Washington to Philadelphia 22 months ago. Center Jeff Halpern said he talked to Oates recently and the former Caps captain was excited about making the visit. Oates had an assist in his one game against Washington last year in Anaheim.