Midway through the first period against Washington on Wednesday night, Mighty Duck defenseman Vitaly Vishnevski was robbed of his first goal of the season by Capital goaltender Sebastien Charpentier, who made a diving save on Vishnevski's shot from outside the left post.

For Vishnevski, missing out on a goal is nothing new, considering he has scored only twice in 211 NHL games. Vishnevski's game is playing responsible hockey on the defensive end and he has been doing that very well under first-year Coach Mike Babcock.

"It's been a good season for me, I like playing this style of hockey," said Vishnevski, who was drafted out of Russia with the fifth overall pick by Anaheim in 1998.

"We all know what we have to do in order to win games.... Quick hockey, where everything is fast and done with speed. That's the key."

After slacking off some last season, Vishnevski is back to delivering bone-crunching hits.

But it's the rest of his game that has picked up the most.

"It doesn't matter whether I'm hitting people or not but if I'm playing hard and [the hits] come, that's good," he said.

"I don't play looking to hit somebody else. But hockey is a physical sport. I just try and play within the system."