Capitals defeat Flames in shootout for 1st win under Carbery

WASHINGTON -- Matthew Phillips scored his first NHL goal and also had an assist for the Washington Capitals, who got their first win under coach Spencer Carbery with a 3-2 shootout victory against the Calgary Flames at Capital One Arena on Monday.

Phillips, who was born in Calgary and was selected by the Flames in the sixth round (No. 166) of the 2016 NHL Draft, signed a one-year contract with Washington on July 2.

“Obviously, it's kind of funny that we ended up playing them the second game of the season, and it kind of happened pretty quick,” Phillips said. “Yeah, it was great. Very lucky to play with some awesome players."

Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves in his season debut, and Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the only goal in the shootout for the Capitals (1-1-0).

“It wasn’t comfortable for 65 minutes plus the shootout,” said Carbery, who replaced Peter Laviolette on May 30. “I felt like maybe that just kind of lifts, I don’t know, a little bit of weight because it just feels like at times we’re just pressing and trying to make something happen, and it has gone haywire for us at times.”

Adam Ruzicka and Dillon Dube each had a goal and an assist, and Noah Hanifin had two assists for the Flames (1-1-1), who have lost two straight. Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves.

“For a road game, this is a pretty good one for us,” Calgary coach Ryan Huska said. “When you look at our three games, we've gotten better every game, and that's what we want to keep seeing. The way we played tonight is the way we would like to continue to play.”

Ruzicka gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 4:47 of the first period. Hanifin controlled the rebound of Dube’s point shot below the goal line and sent a pass out front to Ruzicka, who scored on a one-timer.

Dube made it 2-0 at 17:12, redirecting Hanifin’s point shot past Kuemper with six seconds remaining on a power play.

Calgary had the first 13 shots on goal and ended the period with an 18-3 advantage.

“They came out firing, for sure,” Kuemper said. “The shots were pretty tilted early, but it’s nice to feel it early. They were taking a lot of shots, but the guys were letting me see them, and it kind of allowed me to get into a rhythm. So, it was kind of nice in the first game to have that happening out there.”

Phillips, who was playing his fifth NHL game, cut it to 2-1 at 6:50 of the second period when he one-timed a backhand saucer pass from Sonny Milano on a rush.

“See the pass Sonny made, I just had to bury it,’ Phillips said. “It's a pretty cool moment and something that I've done in my head about a million times, so to actually do it, it feels unreal.”

Connor McMichael tied it 2-2 at 9:54 of the second. He took a pass from Phillips, skated into the high slot and scored with a wrist shot that went under the left pad of Markstrom.

Blake Coleman had the chance to put Calgary back in front when he was awarded a penalty shot at 5:56 of the third period, but Kuemper stopped his attempt with his left pad.

Markstrom then made a glove save against T.J. Oshie on a breakaway at 13:48.

“I thought it was 5-on-5 a really good game from us,” Flames captain Mikael Backlund said. “Power play, we scored one (1-for-5), but we got two looks when it’s a tied game in the third. We want to do better there. Create more and score. Other than that, I thought we did a good job tonight.”

NOTES: McMichael's goal was his first since March 26, 2022. ... Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin did not have a shot on goal for the first time since Nov. 11, 2021. ... Hanifin has four assists in three games this season. He is the sixth defenseman in Flames history to have an assist in each of the team’s first three games of a season, and the first to do so since Mark Giordano in 2014-15.