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Dazzling Debuts - Three players - John Gruden, Brian Willsie and Boyd Gordon - made their Washington debuts on Thursday night. Each of the three found his way onto the scoresheet in the first period.

Gordon won a draw in the offensive zone early in the first, got the puck to Jaromir Jagr and the Caps' big gun took care of the rest. Jagr scored at 2:04 of the first to help give Gordon his first NHL point on his first NHL shift.

Gruden drilled his first NHL goal at 6:21 of the first with Willsie picking up the lone assist. Willsie added another assist later in the period on Bondra's power play goal.

Long Time Coming - Gruden made his NHL debut with the Boston Bruins in 1993-94. But his first goal did not come until 10 years later, on Thursday night in his 82nd NHL contest. Gruden may hold the record for longest period of time between his NHL debut and his first NHL goal, but the crack researchers at the Elias Sports Bureau does not have sufficient data to verify that nugget. However, Elias did confirm that the 33-year-old Gruden is the oldest player to score his first NHL goal since Minnesota's Helmut Balderis turned the trick at the age of 37 on Nov. 2, 1989. That was Balderis' lone season in the NHL. He finished with three goals and nine points in 26 games.