WASHINGTON -- After Tomas Vokoun had made the last of his 43 saves, and the final horn had sounded, Capitals fans were given yet another reason to cheer. The game entertainment crew put the standings on the giant video board and updated them instantly, moving Washington into first place in the Southeast Division. The Capitals, a team struggling so mightily that they fired their coach in late November, are back in a familiar spot after Sundays 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. The four-time defending division champs are tied for first with the Florida Panthers with 50 points -- with Washington holding the tiebreaker based on number of victories. "It was a big game here tonight; we knew it was," Capitals coach Dale Hunter said. "We talked about it -- to get back, the top of the standings in our division. Its an important win for us." The Capitals have done it by winning seven in a row at home. They havent trailed there since Dec. 13, although its helped that the three victories on this homestand have come against opponents playing the second half of a back-to-back. Dmitry Orlov broke a third-period tie with his first NHL goal, and Alexander Semin also scored for the Capitals. Vokoun, making his ninth straight start, pulled out his third straight one-goal win. Washington is 12-9-1 since Hunter replaced Bruce Boudreau, a reversal from the time when, according to Vokoun, "everybody was walking around here being pessimistic." "Things can change here," Vokoun said. "Just like we were 7-0 and things went bad. You have to play consistently through the season to be successful, and youre going to have ups and downs, but I still believe were a very good team and we can turn things around. Maybe the struggles were the best thing for us to realize what we needed to do. "In past years, they were cruising through the regular season and never got through the challenge (of the playoffs). This year it looks like its going to be a fight for the playoffs until the end, and its almost like those teams who are fighting for a long time, theyre ready for the playoffs." Jussi Jokinen broke his 25-game goal-scoring drought for the Hurricanes, who had won two straight to climb out of the division cellar. Cam Ward made 22 saves, and last seasons rookie of the year Jeff Skinner got through the game without incident after sitting out 16 because of a concussion. Coming off a big win over the Boston Bruins at home on Saturday night, the Hurricanes arrived in the nations capital for a 5 p.m. faceoff hoping to win a 1-0 game. They nearly succeeded. "We said before the game were not going to make excuses about it, and weve got to find a way to win," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. "The guys played hard; they came up short. But I think they emptied the tank. Its what we asked them to do. The next step is to find a way to win it." Hunter referred to the Hurricanes strategy as "cat and mouse." The Capitals were outshot 44-24 and found themselves relying heavily on Vokoun. "They threw a lot of rubber at him," Hunter said, "and he had to be sharp." The first period had no goals and only one penalty -- for delay of game -- and Ward kept it scoreless when he got his right arm in the way of Joel Wards point-blank shot early in the second. Washingtons Brooks Laich managed to stuff a shot past Cam Ward a few minutes later -- while tripping over the goalies right leg as the puck trickled off the post and into the net. The contact caused Ward to lose track of the puck, and the goal was disallowed after a video review. Hunter said the official told him Laich was guilty of "incidental contact" with Ward. Semin scored the first goal that counted -- and his 11th of the season -- late in the second, beating Ward with a shot just under the crossbar from the right circle. Jokinen ended his dry spell on a power play in the final seconds of the second period. Vokoun was sprawled on the ice when he somehow stopped a close-range shot by Alexei Ponikarovksy, but Jokinen was there for the rebound for his first goal since Nov. 20 and fifth of the season. Rookie defenceman Orlov, playing in his NHL 25th game, scored the game-winner by putting in the rebound after a shot by Jason Chimera at 1:12 of the third. Orlov was all smiles as he was wrapped in a hug from Chimera and received congratulations from the rest of the team as he made his way along the bench. "I was a little bit worried about it, sort of anxious. I was waiting for this moment to come," Orlov said through an interpreter. "It finally came tonight and Im just extremely happy." NOTES: The Capitals are 8-2 against Southeast teams this season, the top record in the division. ... A sign of Washingtons defensive mindset under Hunter: The team has had 30 or fewer shots on goal in each of its last 14 games. ... Skinner led Carolina with 12 goals and 24 points at the time of his concussion, sustained Dec. 7 at Edmonton. ht... . -- Alex Gordon informed Kansas City Royals third base coach Eddie Rodriguez he was alert for a wild pitch with two outs in the 11th inning. [url=http://www.cheapukrosherun.biz/nike-free-run-2/nike-free-run-2-womens.html]... . The CFL club announced Thursday that Willis was arrested Sunday with one count of driving under the influence in Atlanta. [url=http://www.cheapukrosherun.biz/mens-womens-adidas-zx-750-gs-shoes-navy-blue... . The fact of the matter is, the last four years in the playoffs Alex Ovechkin has averaged between 23-24 minutes per game. 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Celta coped with Granadas initial momentum and then took the lead in the 28th minute when midfielder Rafinho floated a cross to the far post for Gustavo Carabel to head home.HALIFAX - Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice as the Halifax Mooseheads shut out the Saint John Sea Dogs 5-0 for their ninth straight win in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League play Saturday. Luca Ciampini, Connor Moynihan and Andrew Ryan also scored for Halifax (21-8-0), which is one point back of league-leading Blainville-Boisbriand. The Armada have three games in hand. Sebastien Auger stopped 37 shots in net for Saint John (6-18-3). Halifaxs Zachary Fucale meanwhile finished with 22 saves for the shutout. --- HUSKIES 5 ARMADA 4 (OT) ROUYN-NORANDA, Que. -- Liam OBrien scored a power-play goal in overtime to complete a hat trick and lift the Huskies past Blainville-Boisbriand. Maxime St-Cyr and Mathieu Lemay also scored for Rouyn-Noranda (15-9-2) Aaron Hoyles, Frederic Bergeron, Nikita Jevpalovs and Samuel Hodhod replied for the Armada (20-3-3), who hold a one-point lead atop the QMJHL. Alexandre Belanger made 19 saves in net for the Huskies, while Etienne Marcoux finished with 24 stops for the Armada. --- DRAKKAR 2 ISLANDERS 1 BAIE-COMEAU, Que. -- The Drakkar overcame a spectacular performance in net by Charlottetowns Antoine Bibeau. Robbie Graham and Valentin Zykov each scored for Baie-Comeau (18-5-4), while Simon Lemieux stopped 23 shots. Bibeau meanwhile made 43 saves for Charlottetown (13-11-3), and was especially good in the first period when he gave up one goal while the Islanders were being outshot 24-5. Alexandre Goulet added the lone goal for the Islanders. --- WILDCATS 2 SAGUENEENS 0 CHICOUTIMI, Que. -- Alex Dubeau made 29 saves for the shutout to help Moncton earn a win on the road. JC Campagna and Mark Simpson had goals for the Wildcats (12-16-2). Julio Billia finished with 24 saves in net for Chicoutimi (13-15-0).dddddddddddd Power-play time was at a premium. Moncton went scoreless on two attempts while the Sagueneens failed to score on four tries. --- OCEANIC 4 REMPARTS 3 (SO) RIMOUSKI, Que. -- Dominic Beauchemin scored the lone goal in the shootout as the Oceanic edged Quebec. Beauchemin also scored in regulation, while Rimouski (16-7-4) also had goals from Anthony DeLuca and Peter Trainor. Olivier Archambault, Brent Turnbull and Nick Sorensen replied for the Remparts (14-8-6). Philippe Desrosiers stopped 24 shots in net for the Oceanic, while at the other end of the ice Francois Brassard finished with 37 saves. --- TIGRES 8 CATARACTES 5 SHAWINIGAN, Que. -- The Tigres scored four unanswered goals in the third period to blow past the Cataractes. Angelo Miceli and Gabriel Gagne each scored twice for Victoriaville (11-13-2), while Philippe Hudon, Jan Mandat, Matthew Boudreau and Carl-Antoine Delisle had singles. Charles-Olivier Lajoie stopped 28 shots. Frederick Gaudreau scored twice for league-worst Shawinigan (3-21-2), which had scored the first three goals of the third to take a 5-4 lead before the Tigres started their run. Kris Hodge, Anthony Beauvillier and Frank Schumacher also scored for the Cataractes. --- FOREURS 4 PHOENIX 0 VAL-DOR, Que. -- Foreurs goaltender Francois Tremblay needed to make just 17 saves for the shutout. Phil Pietroniro, Anthony Mantha, Timotej Sille and Pierre-Maxime Poudrier each scored for Val-dOr (16-11-0). The goal was Manthas league-leading 25th of the season. He also leads the QMJHL in points with 56. Francis Desrosiers did what he could in net for Sherbrooke (10-15-2), stopping 49 shots. 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