Logan Cooley made it 1-0 at 8:46 on a power play of the first, cutting to the net and converting a pass Keller threaded past four players.
“I think the scoreboard didn't really reflect it, but [the Capitals] came out and played really well early, but we were opportunistic,” Schmaltz said. “The first shot went in, and then we stayed with it and didn’t give up too many good looks.”
Michael Carcone’s fifth goal in four games, a wrist shot from beyond the face-off circles, made it 2-0 at 10:02 and extended his home goal-scoring streak to five.
“No matter who you’re playing in the League, you want to have a good start and have a push from the beginning,” Ingram said. “We fended them off pretty well [at the start] and then went back the other way, and that makes my job a lot easier.”
Schmaltz pushed it to 3-0 at 14:15 on another power play, prompting Washington coach Spencer Carbery to pull Kuemper. Arizona was 2-for-4 with the man-advantage.
“Believe it or not, I didn’t mind our start,” Carbery said. “I mean, they just score on everything, so I knew right away ‘Kuemps’ looked a little bit off so then you’re on guard there and hoping that it can stop the bleeding, but once that third goes in … then it got out of hand.”
Schmaltz scored again to make it 4-0 at 17:11 with a one-timer from the point with Cooley setting up a screen, and Jason Zucker gave Arizona a 5-0 lead at 18:39 following a Capitals turnover.
“Maybe if one goes in [early], it's a bit of a different game,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. “They made some big saves early and from there the game kind of got away from us. It’s frustrating, a result like this, you don't like seeing that number put on the board. … We’ve got to learn from it. Get home and start building momentum again.”