Recap: Luneau Scores First NHL Goal in 5-4 Loss to Caps

Tristan Luneau scored his first career NHL goal and Frank Vatrano brought the Ducks back within one in the game's final minute, but the Washington Capitals held on for a 5-4 win over the Ducks tonight at Honda Center.

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The loss extended Anaheim's winless streak to eight games and dropped the club to 9-14-0 on the season.

Luneau and Brett Leason led Anaheim offensively with a goal and an assist apiece. Brock McGinn and Vatrano also scored, each cutting the deficit to one in the third period. Leo Carlsson and Alex Killorn posted assists. John Gibson made 21 saves.

Tom Wilson powered the Washington attack with his first career hat trick. Nic Dowd and Anthony Mantha also scored for the Caps, who improved to 12-6-2 and finished their California road trip at 2-1-0. Darcy Kuemper earned the win in net, denying 28-of-32 Anaheim shots.

The first period saw plenty of chances, and turnovers, on both ends of the ice, with four of those giveaways almost immediately finding the back of the net.

Washington claimed the lead first just 87 seconds into the action, scoring on its first shot when Mantha jumped on a Ducks turnover and outwaited Gibson to the far post. 

The Ducks responded on the next shift, tying the game 22 seconds later on a very similar goal to the one they just conceded. This time it was Capitals defenseman Joel Edmundson turning the puck over, allowing Luneau two cracks at Kuemper from point-blank range. The veteran netminder turned aside the first attempt but Luneau followed up his shot and tucked the rebound short side for his first career NHL goal.

The tying tally made Luneau the third Duck to score his first NHL goal this season, joining fellow rookies Carlsson and Pavel Mintyukov.

Anaheim then took its first lead of the evening a few minutes later on a remarkable rush by Carlsson and an opportunistic finish by Leason against his original NHL team. Just after a unsuccessful Ducks power play, Carlsson jumped on a loose puck and raced up ice, dancing around former Duck Sonny Milano and firing a shot at Kuemper from in tight. Once again, Kuemper made the initial stop but could not corral the rebound, which Leason swiped home from the doorstep before a Capitals defender could clear it away.

Drafted by Washington in the second round of the 2019 NHL Draft, Leason now has 3-3=6 points in 19 games this season, his second as a Duck. 

Carlsson has points in two of his last three appearances (1-1=2) and 10 points in 15 games this season.

The period would go south from there for the Ducks though, as a pair of goals from Wilson 2:45 apart and another from Dowd on the very next shift put the Capitals up two after one.

Playing in his 700th career NHL game, Wilson leveled the score on a breakaway move to the backhand after the Ducks turned the puck over just inside the offensive blue line. 

Now the third longest-tenured Capital after defenseman John Carlsson and captain Alex Ovechkin, Wilson has scored in each of his last three visits to Honda Center.

The physical veteran forward scored again on a tough break for the Ducks, a power-play one-timer by Ovechkin that kicked off Radko Gudas' foot and right to Wilson on the backdoor. 

Wilson is second among Capitals team leaders in goals and third in points (7-5=12) this season.

Dowd capped the exciting, albeit sloppy, opening frame with a deflection of Sandin's point shot that fluttered over Gibson's left shoulder.

The goals suddenly dried up after a wild first period though, as Washington led 4-2 until the eight-minute mark of the third period, when McGinn somehow spun and tipped home Leason's wrister from the slot all in one motion to bring Anaheim within one.

Much like the first period though, Washington would again respond with Wilson going to the net and getting rewarded, this time securing the hat trick on the power play by punching a rebound through a sea of bodies in front of Gibson.

Vatrano would bring the Ducks back within one in the game's final minute, like Wilson finding paydirt on a rebound chance in the low slot, but it would be too little, too late for Anaheim to create another late dramatic comeback.

The Ducks conclude a two-game homestand Saturday night against Colorado.