Kuemper, Caps Blank Calgary, 3-0

Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves to record his second shutout of the season and the 27th of his NHL career on Friday afternoon as the Capitals blanked the Calgary Flames 3-0 at Capital One Arena. Friday's win sends the Caps off on a six-game road trip - their longest journey of the season - with a pair of consecutive victories in their pocket, their first since Oct. 22-24.

Although he allowed only two goals and earned the win on Wednesday against the Flyers, Kuemper was hard on himself after that game, expressing displeasure at both of those goals against. He bounced back with purpose on Friday.
"Tonight wasn't about last game," says Kuemper. "It was about building off that [Wednesday] win. We'd been talking about stringing a few together, so that was the focus tonight, just come in and do my job and help the team the best I can."
T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin tallied for Washington, and although the big boys clearly came to play, Friday's win was the result of a strong overall team effort and a second straight strong outing for both of Washington's special team units.
"I don't think [the first] was our best period," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought we got much better in the second, and then a smart third period from there. They fire a lot of pucks at the net; they're a shot heavy team and there was a lot of things that were coming at the net."
Washington was tasked with an early penalty killing mission in Friday's game, going a man down after Ovechkin was whistled for hi-sticking in the offensive zone before the game's first television timeout. The Caps killed it off without incident, holding the Flames to two shots, and Ovechkin sparked the game's first scoring play upon exiting the box.
Oshie broke the puck out of Washington ice, going rinkwide for Ovechkin on the left side. Ovechkin then sent defenseman Erik Gustafsson into Calgary ice, and as a pair of white-sweatered defenders converged on him, Gustafsson managed a sweeping reverse pass to the middle of the ice for the late arriving Oshie, who buried it from the slot at 7:56 for a 1-0 Washington lead, the Caps' first scoreboard lead in their previous 314 minutes of hockey.
Minutes later, Flames goalie Jacob Markstrom make a good lateral stop to keep Conor Sheary from doubling the Washington lead. At the other end of the ice, Kuemper made his best stop of the 15 he made in the first when he denied Tyler Toffoli in a 1-on-1 situation with speed in the latter stages of the period.
The Caps turned the tides territorially in the second period, and late in the period they were able to double their lead over the visitors on a brilliant individual effort from Evgeny Kuznetsov. After linemates Sonny Milano and Oshie made a couple of strong plays under pressure in neutral ice to get the puck to him at the Calgary line, Kuznetsov carved his way through a trio of Flames defenders, going down and tucking the puck under Markstrom's right pad at 16:37 of the middle frame.
Just past the midpoint of the third period, Calgary's Milan Lucic was sent off for interference on Oshie, and for the second time in as many games since his return to the lineup, a penalty drawn by Oshie resulted in a power-play goal for Washington.
Ovechkin did the honors, settling a feed from Sheary with his feet before ripping a shot under Markstrom's right arm from his left dot office to give the Caps and Kuemper some welcome breathing room with 7:36 left in the game.
"That's why you play soccer before the game, you know," deadpanned Ovechkin of his fancy footwork.
"I thought we had a good first period," says Flames coach Darryl Sutter. "I thought if we had handled the puck a little better in the first, we probably could have or would have scored a goal. It kind of looked like one of those games where who was going to score first was the difference."
On Friday, for the first time in six games, that was the Caps. Playing with a lead for the first time in two weeks, they grabbed it, built on it and didn't let it go.
"It was nice to pot that first goal," says Laviolette. "And it was nice play, too. Gussie made a heck of a play getting through and he seemed to know what was coming from behind him, too, and popped it to T.J. coming with speed from behind and he just got it off before anyone could even set.
"It was important to get that lead, and not only to get it, but then build on it and then protect it and build on it from there. All around, it was good."