Caps Stop Slide with 4-3 Win Over Flames

What the Caps needed more than anything on Friday night was two points. Their losing streak had reached seven games (0-5-2), and they hadn't lost eight in a row in more than eight years. But speaking of eight, they'd be playing without captain Alex Ovechkin, who was forced to spend the night in the principal's office for skipping the NHL's All-Star Game last weekend. The Caps would also be facing the league's hottest team, the Calgary Flames, winners of 10 of their last 12 (10-1-1) and 23 of their last 32 (23-5-4).

The Caps got that elusive win, 4-3, stemming the slide and starting off their longest homestand in 13 years on the right foot. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored a power-play goal in the final minute of regulation to snap a 3-3 tie and put the Caps in the win column for the first time since Jan. 10.
In addition to playing without Ovechkin from the outset, the Caps lost Lars Eller to a lower body injury early in the second. After taking a two-goal lead early in the second period, the Caps went into the final minute of regulation all even with Calgary.
That's when Kuznetsov trotted into Calgary ice and scored off the rush, snapping a shot past Calgary goalie Mike Smith on the short side, off the iron and in. Earlier in the night, the Caps center had missed the net on similar looks.

"I feel like probably any other game I will pass that puck to [T.J. Oshie]," recounts Kuznetsov. "He's got, I think, a breakaway over there, but I wasn't sure about that pass because the puck wasn't full on my blade. And then I was just in a bad position to pass the puck, so I decided to shoot.
"But those couple of chances before, I should score, especially in the second period. He leaves that top corner wide open, and I just did not execute."
The Caps got on the board first, getting a goal from their fourth line on its first shoft of the night. After taking a pass from blueliner partner Michal Kempny, John Carlson wound up and let a shot fly from the right point. Nic Dowd cruised through the slot and got a stick on it, redirecting it past Smith for a 1-0 Washington lead exactly three minutes into the contest.
Calgary got even late in the first. Flames center Mikael Backlund pulled the puck off the wall in his own end after it hopped over Tom Wilson's stick. Backlund lost control of the puck in neutral ice, but still managed to score in what was basically a one-on-four situation as his teammates went for a change. The puck bounced back to Backlund, and he carved his way into Washington ice, took a slash from Jonas Siegenthaler, drew Braden Holtby to the left, and let the puck do the rest, as it slid slowly into the net to make it a 1-1 game at 17:37.

Even later in the first, the Caps got the lead back on a strong offensive zone shift. Eller did most of the heavy lifting, winning some board battles to retain possession and pushing the puck along to linemate Brett Connolly. Connolly fed Brooks Orpik at the left point, and the blueliner let a shot fly from there. The shot got caught up in traffic, but Eller pounced on it, firing twice. Smith stopped both, but Dmitrij Jaskin drove by and tapped in the rebound to restore the Caps' lead at 2-1 with 35.7 seconds left in the second.
In the first minute of the second, the Caps opened up a two-goal lead. Matthew Tkachuk tried to skate the puck out of Calgary ice, but lost the handle and Kuznetsov poked it away to Wilson. After an exchange with Jakub Vrana, Wilson fired a precision wrister from the top of the right circle to the top far corner of the cage, making it a 3-1 game just 54 seconds into the middle frame.
Calgary got that one back quickly, making it a 3-2 game less than a minute and a half later. T.J. Brodie's shot clanked off Calgary winger Garnet Hathaway and bounded behind Holtby to make it a 3-2 game at 2:17.
Washington had three power play opportunities in a span of seven and a half minutes over the remainder of the second, but wasn't able to add to its lead. The Caps poured five shots on Smith in those six minutes on the power play, they had some great looks and plenty of zone time, and shots from both Oshie and Carlson ring iron.
Holtby made a dazzling stop on James Neal from in tight early in the third, bailing out teammates whose turnovers had extended Calgary's stay in Washington ice. Nicklas Backstrom's line did a solid job of neutralizing the Flames' torrid top trio, but that unit struck to tie the game in the back half of the third.
Johnny Gaudreau surveyed and then fired from center point, and Elias Lindholm got a piece of it to deflect it by Holtby, tying the game at 3-3 with 7:59 left.
With just under two minutes left, Backstrom drew a holding call on Backlund, putting the Caps on the power play for the fourth time. A quick whistle scotched an immediate extra-man opportunity, but Kuznetsov came up with the game-winner off the rush, as Oshie just managed to stay onside.

"He just ripped it off the bar," says Smith of Kuznetsov's shot. "Sometimes, you've just got to tip your cap. It's one of the best players in the league in a really dangerous spot."
For the Caps, the main thing was the two points. But almost as importantly, they played a much better overall game than they've generally displayed of late, and they did so after a week away from the rink.
"I thought we did some real good things tonight," says Caps coach Todd Reirden. "I thought our effort level was good. It was a really big team effort tonight, obviously missing our captain going into that game. And then we lose Lars Eller, and then a number of different situations arose. We got contributions from a lot of different people tonight. It was a real good team effort for us."