Iafrate

LANDOVER -- When the Washington Capitals rally from two goals down and score five times, they have every right to expect a victory.And yesterday, against the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Capitals needed a victory. But, evidently still in the holiday spirit, they settled for a 5-5 tie."We'll take the point," said Capitals coach Terry Murray. "But we're not satisfied. It was clearly a game we dominated from the second period on. We had quality chances, at least 10 in the third period. The right people had the chances and we were still not able to get the goal we needed."

PHILADELPHIA -- After playing like an offensive wonder against Ottawa, then wondering how to play in their next game against Hartford, the Washington Capitals came up with a defensive beauty last night to defeat the Flyers, 4-1, at The Spectrum.With Washington goalie Rick Tabaracci using everything from histick to his face to make 28 saves, the Caps came within 12.3 seconds of their first shutout of the season."We just dominated five on five," said Tabaracci, who was pullein the middle of each of his previous two starts.

LANDOVER -- Defenseman Al Iafrate, who had asked the Toronto Maple Leafs to trade him, received his wish yesterday when he was dealt to the Washington Capitals for center Peter Zezel and defenseman Bob Rouse.Iafrate had 21 goals and 42 assists last year, and led Toronto's defensemen in scoring in each of the past three years.This season he has three goals and 15 assists in 42 games.Off-the-ice problems were blamed for the decline and led him to ask general manager Floyd Smith to try and make a deal.

LANDOVER -- Washington Capitals management gave up hope that its forwards would break out of their season-long slump and made a boldmove yesterday that could anchor the franchise for a long time.The Capitals traded All-Star defenseman Al Iafrate to Boston for the offensive promise of 26-year-old center Joe Juneau."We made this trade for a variety of reasons," Capitals general manager David Poile said. "But first and foremost, it's a big step toward increasing our offensive production."That has been a big concern since the Capitals traded Dino Ciccarelli to Detroit after the 1991-92 season.

What happened at County Lanes in Westminster on Oct. 12 was a first."It was strike, spare, nine-count all night," Mickey Iafrate said with a laugh. "I think I threw one six-count on a strike. The rest of the time it was eight and nine counts."At the end of the Tuesday Night Men's League play that night, Iafrate had filled all 30 frames with marks.That's been done plenty of times, but it was odd because he never scored a double, didn't have a 600 series and when the last pin had fallen had three 196 games.

LANDOVER -- The Eastern Conference race is so close heading into the final quarter of the season, there is barely room to squeeze a puck between the Washington Capitals, Florida Panthers and Philadelphia Flyers.But with last night's 4-2 win over the Panthers at USAir Arena, the Caps opened a four-point lead over their closest competition for the final two Eastern Conference playoff spots.Washington used a pretty Al Iafrate slap shot from inside the right circle with 9:44 to play to forge a 3-2 lead and Kelly Miller wrapped up the victory with 27.5 seconds left, scoring into an open net."

Reading time, two minutes:One of the features of the Washington Capitals' home game against Vancouver last Friday was defenseman Al Iafrate's hat trick of penalties (cross-checking, interference, holding) followed by a game misconduct and ejection. And then he ended up being named the No. 1 star of the 3-3 tie. The Caps, 3-3-3 the last three weeks (talk about a rut), host the North Stars tonight.* Andrew Maynard is a solid 8-to-5 favorite in his NABF light-heavyweight title bout against former Olympic gold medalist Frank Tate in the Paramount at Madison Square Garden Friday.

LANDOVER -- The crowd of 12,461 at USAir Arena stood and cheered, as the Washington Capitals gathered around their goal and hugged each other last night.The game was over and the Capitals' struggle was, too. After six straight losses, Washington won, beating the Buffalo Sabres, 4-3.With Todd Krygier, Dave Poulin and Al Iafrate playing like men who wanted to make a difference in the third period, Washington avoided matching a 10-year-old record of futility."The initial feeling was relief, sheer relief," said Krygier, who scored the game-tying goal and assisted on the winning goal by Al Iafrate, with 6:57 to play.

VS. PITTSBURGH PENGUINS* WHEN: Tonight, 7:35.* WHERE: Pittsburgh Civic Arena.* TV/RADIO: Ch. 20; WCAO-AM 600.* OUTLOOK: Coach Terry Murray wanted toughness from his new scheme featuring defensemen Ken Sabourin and Al Iafrate and he's gotten it. The Capitals (23-26-3) tied Minnesota 2-2 Friday and defeated the Islanders 5-4 in OT Sunday. Left wing John Kordic, perhaps the toughest of all of the new acquisitions, won't be in the lineup until at least next week. The Penguins (27-21-3) have Mario Lemieux back in the lineup.

Indians: Placed P Jeff Sexton on 60-day DL.Marlins: Activated OF Andre Dawson from 15-day DL. Optioned IF Ralph Milliard to Triple-A Charlotte.Phillies: Activated 2B Mickey Morandini from 15-day DL. Recalled SS Kevin Stocker from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Sent IF Howard Battle to Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.HockeySharks: Made qualifying contract offers to RW Jan Caloun, D Al Iafrate, D Jay More and G Wade Flaherty and Arturs Irbe. Did not make qualifying offer to D Tom Pederson, who becomes unrestricted free agent today.