Back in his usual role as a Web site producer for the Washington Capitals, Brett Leonhardt shook his head in disbelief as he videotaped Brent Johnson answer questions about — who else? — Brett Leonhardt.

Johnson made 32 saves in Washington's 5-1 home victory over Ottawa on Friday night, but shared the attention with Leonhardt, the 6-foot-7 former college goalie who was on the bench for the first 10 minutes because of an injury.

"Every dream come true," Leonhardt said. "Growing up in Canada, playing since I was 4. It was just very surreal. It was a blur. Went by real quick."

Leonhardt's moment in the spotlight overshadowed the returns of Sergei Fedorov and Mike Green to the lineup in a dominating performance.

Alexander Semin, Brooks Laich and Green scored for the first time this month, Alex Ovechkin had his 16th and 17th goals, and Johnson won his fourth straight decision.

"Sometimes when you see the adversity of the goaltending situation like it was evolving today, the players dig deeper for a teammate, for Johnnie," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said, "and I thought we played a pretty good game."

A Division III goalie at Oswego State and Neumann College who has worked for the Capitals for about a year, the 26-year-old Leonhardt signed an amateur tryout contract after backup Jose Theodore injured a hip flexor during the morning skate.

If Leonhardt had played, he would have tied the St. Louis' Ben Bishop as the tallest goalie ever to see action in an NHL game. Instead, Leonhardt became an instant celebrity.

"We had a little chat about what happens during warmup, and he was like, 'What? What am I going to do?'" Johnson said. "It was pretty funny."

Leonhardt's brief career ended when Simeon Varlamov, recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League, arrived midway through the first period.