In Washington, DC, Evgeny Kuznetsov was the lone striker in the skills competition on Monday in a 3-2 win for the Capitals over the visiting Calgary Flames on Monday night.
“It wasn’t comfortable for 65 minutes plus the shootout,” said Caps head coach Spencer Carbery. “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.”
Darcy Kuemper made 38 saves for the Caps win.
“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.”
The Flames took a 1-0 lead early in the first period on a marker from Adam Ruzicka .
Calgary left the first period with a 2-0 lead after Dillon Dube scored at 17:12.
“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.”
Washington’s Matthew Phillips scored at 6:50 of the middle frame to cut the deficit to 2-1.
“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.”
Connor McMichael got the Caps even at 2-2 when he scored at 9:54 of the second.
Calgary’s Blake Coleman missed a penalty shot in the third.
“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.”
After a scoreless third and extra session, Kuznetsov ht it for the winner on penalties.
Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves in the skills loss.
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