In Washington, DC, the Capitals’ John Carlson scored with 53 seconds left in regulation on Sunday to give the Caps a 4-3 win over the visiting Los Angeles Kings.
“This was an important game for our group, and you could feel that at ice level,” coach Spencer Carbery said.
Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves in the win.
“Obviously, we haven’t had the easiest time scoring this year and kind of when we were winning games early on in the season, we were getting contributions from everyone,” the Caps’ Dylan Strome said. “Every line was scoring on any given night, and we kind of lost that for a little bit where no one was really scoring for the last five, six games.”
The Capitals improved to 19-13-6.
In the middle frame, Nic Dowd broke the ice in the game at 4:22 to stake the Caps to a 1-0 lead.
“I love what Nic Dowd’s line does there driving the puck down into the offensive zone and then doesn’t settle to just hold it,” Carbery said. “There’s a couple plays to be made there and they made them and ‘Dowder’ does a great job on the flash screen and Johnny Carlson delivering the puck.”
LA’s Adrian Kempe hit off the power play at 7:12, of the second to tie the game, 1-1.
Kevin Fiala potted his first of two on the afternoon at 13:02 to ut the Kings up, 2-1.
“We just tried to play a simple north-south game, you know, and just attack the net front,” Fiala said of his line with Danault and Arthur Kaliyev. “Overall, it was a better night for us.”
Strome replied for the Caps at 15:35 to knot the affair at 2-2.
The two teams entered the third period tied, 2-2, before Fiala scored 61 seconds into the third for his second goal of the game to put LA up, 3-2.
“We just have to make sure next game we’re ready to play 60 minutes,” Fiala said. “I feel like we started well, and they score at the bad moments. At the end as well, one minute to go or whatever, those moments we have to tighten up.”
The Caps’ Nicolas Aube-Kubel tied the game, 3-3, just ahead of the midway point of the third.
“Fourth line was unbelievable all game, so credit to them,” Strome said. “They got the ice time tonight, and they deserved it. Not only just did they get the goals, but they got the chances too. They were great defensively and not enough good things to say about them. They’re really good line and hard to play against.”
Cam Talbot made 30 saves in the loss.
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