Alexander Semin scored twice, Michael Nylander netted a penalty shot, and the Washington Capitals limited Vancouver to only 10 shots on goal Monday night in a 5-1 victory over the Canucks.

Washington broke a franchise record for shots by an opponent, having never before allowed fewer than 11 in a game. Vancouver barely avoided breaking its franchise low of eight.

The Canucks scored a total of 11 goals in their previous two games, both victories over Calgary. But they managed only two shots against Capitals goalie Brent Johnson in the first period, one in the second, and seven in the third.

Oddly enough, for the second consecutive game, the Capitals allowed an opponent to score on its first shot of the night. But for the second consecutive game, Washington's high-powered offense made up for that early miscue _ taking a 5-1 lead on Nylander's goal with 3:24 left in the second period.

The penalty shot, the first successful one for the Capitals since November 2005, was called when defenseman Willie Mitchell took a swipe at another player's stick that was on the ice, sending the equipment into Nylander as he handled the puck.

Vancouver's Roberto Luongo allowed all five goals, then was replaced in goal by Curtis Sanford to open the third period.

Johnson got his 100th NHL win in his first start of the season; free-agent signing Jose Theodore was yanked in the second period of a season-opening loss at Atlanta, then gave up a soft goal 26 seconds into Game 2 against Chicago and another 10 minutes later. But Theodore stayed in, and Washington came back to beat the Blackhawks 4-2 behind two goals from Alex Ovechkin.

Washington improved to 2-1 despite not getting any points from Ovechkin on Monday.

The Capitals killed off all five Chicago power plays Saturday _ but it took Vancouver 28 seconds into its first man-advantage to convert. Alexander Edler put the Canucks' first attempt into the net, making it 1-1 after 4 minutes. Washington briefly had gone ahead a little more than a minute earlier when Nylander brought the puck out from behind the goal and passed it to Semin, who flicked a backhander over the leg of a sprawling Luongo.

The Capitals went up 2-1 at the 16:11 mark on a power-play goal by Mike Green, off assists from Nylander and Tomas Fleischmann. Green _ who led NHL defensemen in goals last season with 18 _ already has three goals, all on power plays.

Washington made it 3-1 on defenseman Milan Jurcina's goal a little more than 4 minutes into the second period. About a minute later it was 4-1, thanks to Semin's third goal of the season.

Notes:@ Capitals F Viktor Kozlov left the game in the second period with an undisclosed injury. ... The announced attendance of 16,847 ended the Capitals' home sellout streak at nine games, including playoffs. ... Washington C Sergei Fedorov played as a defenseman. The move allowed C Boyd Gordon to crack the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the first two games. ... NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended the game. He said ticket sales are up this season despite the economic downturn, and said the league would consider having the Capitals participate in preseason games in Europe and the Jan. 1 outdoor game in the future.